Fains I
IN the carefree days when Harry Hyams was building Centre Point and wore a Mickey Mouse mask to his meetings, I bought five shares in his company. They were my ticket of admission. Now Mr Hyams has dropped out of the headlines to concentrate, I believe, on embellishing his swimming pool — but I still have my Oldham Estate shares, ten of them. (They split.) Oldham has just sent me a dividend cheque for 14p and a tax credit for another fivepence. It is all rather embarrassing. The shares must cost everybody money. An annual income of 19p does not make much impact on my tax accountant's bills, and as for Oldham, the cost of keeping my name on the register and writing cheques and letters must exceed my dividend many times over. I tried asking Oldham to cancel the shares and save money all round, but
was told that it could not be done. Oldham has no Stock Exchange quotation, so I cannot sell in the market. There used to be matched bargains, but not since 1986. Any offers? Quis?
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