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Non-financial data, where this is not self-explanatory, is described below in alphabetical order. On ShareData Online the information below is found on each company's Factsheet.
Calendar
We show when the company will next report results and the date of the next AGM (annual general meeting). We try to get dates from companies, but most are reluctant to commit themselves too far ahead of time. In this case we use our historical records to estimate a release date, shown as Unconfirmed.
Sometimes the company will provide an approximate date, shown as Co Estimate. Confirmed means a date confirmed by the company, but this is not always an absolute guarantee that results will be released on that day.
No Disclosure means that we have been unable to get any information from the company and we cannot make a valid estimate from previous data (typically because we are beyond the company's previous reporting date or because the company changed its year end).
Capital Structure
ShareData shows the authorised shares and outstanding shares for each class of security issued by the company. "Issued shares" (or shares outstanding) is the actual number of shares in the hands of shareholders – market capitalisation is obtained by multiplying this figure by the share price. Issued shares are a sub-set of authorised shares. The latter figure denotes the maximum number of shares that could be issued under the current capital structure. The difference between authorised and issued shares is the number of shares not yet issued. (This does not mean that the company will keep issuing shares until the authorised threshold is reached – a large portion of authorised shares usually remains unallocated.)
Note that warrants and other derivative instruments (like options and CFDs) are not part of the capital structure of a company.
Directors
Directors are usually listed in order of Chairman, Deputy Chairman, CEO/MD, and the balance in alphabetical order. The abbreviation (ne) indicates a non-executive director, and (alt) indicates an alternate director. For foreign nationals the director's nationality appears in italics.
Dividends
Historical dividends were listed on the Fact Sheet in the old ShareData Online. Dividends can now be found on the Performance tab.
ISIN
International Securities Identification Number, the first two characters of which are the issuing country code. The ISIN in the Facsheet header is the identification number of the main security issued by the company (usually the ordinary). ISINs for other securities (eg, where the company has other classes of shares in issue) can be found in the Capital Structure table.
ISINs are particularly useful when researching global entities. Dual-listed shares usually have different exchange codes in different countries but the same ISIN.
Liquidity
This is the percentage of the company’s issued shares that have changed hands in the period up to the latest financials. If the most recent results are interims or quarterlies, the volume of shares traded is annualised. The Avg value per week (found on ShareData Online's Quote pages or above each company's chart in the Stock Exchange Handbook) is a further indication of the share’s liquidity, and gives a much quicker impression of the share’s capacity to absorb purchases and withstand impact costs.
Major Shareholders
We rely on listed companies to supply us with these details. This has the distinct advantage that most major holdings show the ultimate beneficial holder. However, not all listed companies are prepared to provide this information. Controlled by is also the company’s own assessment of the ultimate controlling shareholder, and not an independent opinion.
Nature of Business
The Summary tab for each company usually provides a brief nature of business as described in the statutory format in the company's annual report. The Factsheet for each company provides a more detailed description either drawn up by ProfileData Research or provided by the company.
Volatility
This is a measure of the inherent risk of the share, and literally measures how much the shares go up and down in price (cf beta, which is a measure of risk relative to a benchmark). We use the standard deviation of the month-on-month percentage price change, usually over a 36-month period. All other things being equal, the higher this figure, the riskier the share. A figure of 12.5 tells you that, two-thirds of the time, the month-end price change was within 12.5% of the average month-on-month price change (either up or down), and that 95% of the time, the price change was within 25% (double 12.5%) either up or down. Put more simply, 12.5 means the share was within a 25% “band” around the price change average two-thirds of the time, and within a 50% band about 95% of the time (on a month-to-month basis).
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