Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908

Allotment.

85 Restriction as to allotment.

(1) No allotment shall be made of any share capital of a company offered to the public for subscription, unless the following conditions have been complied with, namely :—

(a) the amount (if any) fixed by the memorandum or articles and named in the prospectus as the minimum subscription upon which the directors may proceed to-allotment; or

(b) if no amount is so fixed and named, then the whole amount of the share capital so offered for subscription,

has been subscribed, and the sum payable on application for the amount so fixed and named, or for the whole amount offered for subscription, has been paid to and received by the company.

(2) The amount so fixed and named and the whole amount aforesaid shall be reckoned exclusively of any amount payable otherwise than in cash, and is in this Act referred to as the minimum subscription.

(3) The amount payable on application on each share shall not be less than five per cent. of the nominal amount of the share.

(4) If the conditions aforesaid have not been complied with on the expiration of forty days after the first issue of the prospectus, all money received from applicants for shares shall be forthwith repaid to them without interest, and, if any such money is not so repaid within forty-eight days after the issue of the prospectus, the directors of the company shall be jointly and severally liable to repay that money with interest at the rate of five per centum per annum from the expiration of the forty-eighth day:

Provided that a director shall not be liable if he proves that the loss of the money was not due to any misconduct or negligence on his part.

(5) Any condition requiring or binding any applicant for shares to waive compliance with any requirement of this section shall be void.

(6) This section, except subsection (3) thereof, shall not apply to any allotment of shares subsequent to the first allotment of shares offered to the public for subscription.

(7) In the case of the first allotment of share capital payable in cash of a company which does not issue any invitation to the public to subscribe for its shares, no allotment shall be made unless the minimum subscription (that is to say):—

(a) the amount (if any) fixed by the memorandum or articles and named in the statement in lieu of prospectus as the minimum subscription upon which the directors may proceed to allotment; or

(b) if no amount is so fixed and named, then the whole amount of the share capital other than that issued or agreed to be issued as fully or partly paid up otherwise than in cash,

has been subscribed and an amount not less than five per cent. of the nominal amount of each share payable in cash has been paid to and received by the company.

This subsection shall not apply to a private company or to a company which has allotted any shares or debentures before the first day of July nineteen hundred and eight.

86 Effect of irregular allotment.

(1) An allotment made by a company to an applicant in contravention of the provisions of the last foregoing section shall be voidable at the instance of the applicant within one month after the holding of the statutory meeting of the company and not later, and shall be so voidable notwithstanding that the company is in course of being wound up.

(2) If any director of a company knowingly contravenes or permits or authorises the contravention of any of the provisions of the last foregoing section with respect to allotment he shall be liable to compensate the company and the allottee respectively for any loss, damages, or costs which the company or the allottee may have sustained or incurred thereby: Provided that proceedings to recover any such loss, damages, or costs shall not be commenced after the expiration of two years from the date of the allotment.

87 Restrictions on commencement of business.

(1) A company shall not commence any business or exercise any borrowing powers unless—

(a) shares held subject to the payment of the whole amount thereof in cash have been allotted to an amount not less in the whole than the minimum subscription ; and

(b) every director of the company has paid to the company on each of the shares taken or contracted to be taken by him, and for which he is liable to pay in cash, a proportion equal to the proportion payable on application and allotment on the shares offered for public subscription, or in the case of a company which does not issue a prospectus inviting the public to subscribe for its shares, on the shares payable in cash; and

(c) there has been filed with the registrar of companies a statutory declaration by the secretary or one of the directors, in the prescribed form, that the aforesaid conditions have been complied with ; and

(d) in the case of a company which does not issue a prospectus inviting the public to subscribe for its shares, there has been filed with the registrar of companies a statement in lieu of prospectus.

(2) The registrar of companies shall, on the filing of this statutory declaration, certify that the company is entitled to commence business, and that certificate shall be conclusive evidence that the company is so entitled :

Provided that in the case of a company which does not issue a prospectus inviting the public to subscribe for its shares the registrar shall not give such a certificate unless a statement in lieu of prospectus has been filed with him.

(3) Any contract made by a company before the date at which it is entitled to commence business shall be provisional only, and shall not be binding on the company until that date, and on that date it shall become binding.

(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the simultaneous offer for subscription or allotment of any shares and debentures or the receipt of any money payable on application for debentures.

(5) If any company commences business or exercises borrowing powers in contravention of this section, every person who is responsible for the contravention shall, without prejudice to any other liability, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the contravention continues.

(6) Nothing in this section shall apply to a private company, or to a company registered before the first day of January nineteen hundred and one, or to a company registered before the first day of July nineteen hundred and eight which does not issue a prospectus inviting the public to subscribe for its shares.

88 Return as to allotments.

(1) Whenever a company limited by shares makes any allotment of its shares, the company shall within one month thereafter file with the registrar of companies—

(a) a return of the allotments, stating the number and nominal amount of the shares comprised in the allotment, the names, addresses, and descriptions of the allottees, and the amount (if any) paid or due and payable on each share ; and

(b) in the case of shares allotted as fully or partly paid up otherwise than in cash, a contract in writing constituting the title of the allottee to the allotment together with any contract of sale, or for services or other consideration in respect of which that allotment was made, such contracts being duly stamped, and a return stating the number and nominal amount of shares so allotted, the extent to which they are to be treated as paid up, and the consideration for which they have been allotted.

(2) Where such a contract as above mentioned is not reduced to writing, the company shall within one month after the allotment file with the registrar of companies the prescribed particulars of the contract stamped with the same stamp duty as would have been payable if the contract had been reduced to writing, and those particulars shall be deemed to be an instrument within the meaning of the [54 & 55 Vict. c. 39.] Stamp Act, 1891, and the registrar may, as a condition of filing the particulars, require that the duty payable thereon be adjudicated under section twelve of that Act.

(3) If default is made in complying with the requirements of this section, every director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the company, who is knowingly a party to the default, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the default continues :

Provided that, in case of default in filing with the registrar of companies within one month after the allotment any document required to be filed by this section, the company, or any person liable for the default, may apply to the court for relief, and the court, if satisfied that the omission to file the document was accidental or due to inadvertence or that it is just and equitable to grant relief, may make an order extending the time for the filing of the document for such period as the court may think proper.