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Authorised Share Capital

When a company is incorporated it is common for the members' liability to be limited by shares.    For companies incorporated under the Companies Act 1985 the memorandum of association  states the amount of the authorised share capital the company has and the division of the share capital into shares of a fixed amount.  On registration of the company members of the company, also called shareholders, agree to take some, or all, of the shares.

A limited company's authorised share capital is the amount of capital with which it starts life and which is stated in the memorandum of association. 

A company's authorised share capital is not the same as its issued capital.

In the Companies Act 2006 companies are no longer be required to be registered with an authorised share capital and new companies registered from 1 October 2009 do not have this statement in its memorandum of association.  Instead the share capital of the company may be included in thearticles of association.

For companies incorporated under the Companies Act 1985, from 1 October 2009, the statement of authorised share capital in the memorandum of association will be deemed to be in its articles of association and the company will continue to have an authorised share capital until such a time when that article is revoked.
 

At MSP we are able to assist you with the maintenance of the share capital of your company and all your statutory compliance requirements. Please call us on 0207 637 5216 or email us on for further information on share capital.