| Panel on Take-overs and Mergers (Potam) |
Regulates conduct of take-overs and is non-statutory. |
| Par |
The nominal value of a security. |
| Permanent Interest Bearing Shares (PIBS) |
Shares issued by building societies to raise money without demutualising. They pay a fixed rate of interest rather than a dividend.. |
| Perpetual Floating Rate Note (PFRN) |
A Floating Rate Note (FRN) without a maturity date. |
| Personal Equity Plan (PEP) |
This allows investment in a number of shares. It carries various tax benefits including receiving dividends without paying income tax on the income, and sales free from capital gains tax on the profit. As of 6 April 1999 PEPs closed for business and were replaced by ISAs. |
| Personal Investment Authority (PIA) |
The self regulating organisation responsible for personal pensions and unit trusts. |
| Physical Delivery |
The transfer of ownership of an underlying commodity between a buyer and seller party to a futures contract following expiry. |
| Pit |
Trading arena where open outcry takes place. |
| Placing |
A sale of shares to a specific group of buyers, which bypasses the normal sale mechanisms. |
| Portfolio |
A collection of securities owned by an investor. |
| Preference Shares |
These are normally fixed-income shares whose holders have the right to receive dividends before ordinary shareholders but after debenture and loan stock holders have received their interest. |
| Preferential Form |
The London Stock Exchange allows companies offering shares to the public to set aside up to 10% of the issue for application from employees and, where a parent company is floating off a subsidiary, from shareholders of the parent company. Separate application forms, usually pink (hence the nickname pink forms), are used for this. |
| Premium |
If the market price of a new security is higher than the usual price, the difference is the premium. If it is lower, the difference is called the discount. Or the cost of purchasing a trading option. |
| Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio) |
The P/E ratio is a measure of the level of confidence investors have in a company (rightly or wrongly). Generally, the higher the figure, the higher the confidence. It is worked out by dividing the current share price by the last published earnings per share which is net profit divided by the number of ordinary shares. |
| Price Sensitive Information |
Information that has to be reported to the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service (RNS), which may have an effect on a company’s share price. |
| Primary Market |
The function of a stock exchange in bringing securities to the market for the first time. Money is being raised either for the founders of the company or to fund future growth. |
| Principals Commission |
A misnomer which actually describes the trader’s ‘turn’ or mark-up. Usually shown on request by clients that the agent or seller shows their profit. |
| Private Company |
A company which is not a public company and which is not allowed to offer its shares to the general public. |
| Program Trading |
Automatic buying and selling of shares on the instruction of a computer, according to whether prices are rising or falling. |
| Promissory Note |
An unconditional signed promise to pay a set sum of money at an agreed date either to a specified person or to bearer. |
| ProShare |
An independent organisation which promotes share ownership among individual investors, including employees. |
| Prospectus |
Document giving the details that a company is required to make public to support a new issue of shares. See Listing. |
| Proxy |
A person empowered by a shareholder to vote on his behalf at company meetings. |
| Public Limited Company (plc) |
A company whose shares may be purchased by the public and traded freely on the open market and whose share capital is not less than a statutory minimum. |
| Put Option |
The right but not the obligation to sell at an agreed price at or within a stated future time |