Provision of Company Act Regarding Payment of Preference Shares
(1) Subject to this section a company having a share capital may, if so authorized by its articles, issue preference shares which are, or at the option of the company are to be, liable to be redeemed and the redemption shall be effected only on such terms and in such manner as is provided by the articles.
(2) The redemption shall not be taken as reducing the amount of authorized share capital of the company.
(3) The shares shall not be redeemed—
(a) except out of profits which would otherwise be available for dividend, or out of the proceeds of a fresh issue of shares made for the purposes of the redemption; and
(b) unless they are fully paid up.
(4) The premium, if any, payable on redemption shall be provided for out of profits or the share premium account before the shares are redeemed.
(5) Where any such shares are redeemed otherwise than out of the proceeds of a fresh issue, there shall, out of profits which would otherwise have been available for dividend, be transferred to a reserve called the “capital redemption reserve” a sum equal to the nominal amount of the shares redeemed, and the provisions of this Act relating to the reduction of the share capital of a company shall, except as provided in this section, apply as if the capital redemption reserve were paid-up share capital of the company.
(6) Where in pursuance of this section a company has redeemed or is about to redeem any preferences shares, it may issue shares up to the nominal amount of the shares redeemed or to be redeemed as if those shares had never been issued, and accordingly the share capital of the company shall not for the purposes of any fee under this Act be deemed to be increased by such issue but where new shares are issued before the redemption of the old shares, the new shares shall not, so far as relates to any fee under this Act, be deemed to have been issued in pursuance of this subsection unless the old shares have been redeemed within one month after the issue of the new shares.
(7) The capital redemption reserve may be applied in paying up unissued shares of the company to be issued to members of the company as fully paid bonus shares.
(8) If a company redeems any redeemable preference shares it shall within fourteen days after so doing give notice thereof to the Registrar specifying the shares redeemed.
