Issue of shares, Bonus shares and Right shares

Issue of shares, Bonus shares and Right shares

There are various ways by which shares can be issued.

Issue of shares at Par

Normally shares are issued at their face value or par value i.e at a price mentioned on the face of share certificate concerned. There is no legal restrictions on issuing shares at par / face value.

Issue of Shares at Premium

When shares are issued at a price above the face or nominal value, they are said to be issued at a premium. For example, a share having the face value of Rs.10 is issued at Rs.12. Here, Rs.2 is the premium. The amount of share premium has to be transferred to an account called the ‘Securities Premium Account’. This account is capital in nature and can only be utilized for the purposes specified by the Act under Section 78 viz; Issue of fully paid bonus shares to members of the company.

(i) To write off preliminary expenses.

(ii) To write off the expenses of issue, or commission paid, or discount allowed, on issue of shares or debentures of the company.

(iii) To provide for the payment of premium on the redemption of any redeemable preference shares or debentures of the company.

Thus, the Securities Premium Account cannot be treated as a revenue reserve for distributing dividends. It can only be used for the above mentioned purposes and also for buying back of securities (section 77A). It must be noted that Security premium is not available for distribution of dividend.

Issue of Securities at Discount

When the shares are issued at a price below the face value they are said to be issued at a discount. For example, a share having the face value of Rs 10 is issued at Rs 8. The companies act 2013, prohibits the issue of shares at discount (Section 53), except sweat Equity share.

Sweat Equity Shares

Under section 54 of the Companies Act 2013, Sweat Equity Shares can be issued at Discount. Sweat Equity Shares means issue of shares to employees or directors at a lower price for cash or other than Cash, in lieu of providing know-how or making available rights in the nature of intellectual property rights or any value additions.

Bonus Shares

A company may, if its Articles provide, capitalize its profits by issuing fully-paid bonus shares. The issue of bonus shares by a company is a common feature. In simple, Bonus share means to utilize the company’s reserves and surpluses, issue of shares to existing shareholders without taking any consideration is known as Bonus Shares. It can be issued by:

(i) Making partly paid up shares as fully paid

(ii) Issuing new shares

Right Shares

Right shares are the shares which are issued by the company, with the aim of increasing the subscribed share capital of the company by further issue, if it is authorized by its Articles. The right shares are primarily issued to the existing equity shareholders through a letter of an issue, on pro rata basis.