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Scrip Issue: Synonym for Bonus Issue.
Security: Strictly a secured stock, that is, a Gilt-edged stock or Debenture but it is now used loosely to describe any stock or share. Also it is the Assets charged to secure a loan.
Settlement Day: The day appointed for the settlement of transactions carried out in one account.
Share: One part of the Equity Capital of a company.
Share Swap: The issue of new shares by a company in exchange for a piece of asset owned by another party. In the normally accepted usage of the word, the asset being exchanged for is in the form of a block of shares of another company.
Shareholders Equity/Funds: The residual item of the Balance Sheet after all the Liabilities have been deducted from all the Assets.
Short: To sell a share without having actual ownership to it. Normally ‘Short Selling’.
Short-term: When used to describe accounting items, prospects or capital appreciation, it generally means a period of up to about a year.
Sinking Fund: A fund held in escrow to provide for the eventual payment of a long-term Loan-Stock.
Slump: Can be used for both the stock market and the economy. In the former case, it means a sharp and prolonged decline in the prices of stocks. In the latter case, it means a prolonged and severe Recession.
Speculation: The dealing in assets with the sole object for short-term capital gains.
Spin-off: The hiving oil” of a subsidiary or a part of the business in the form of a separately listed company, normally owned by the shareholders of the former.
Split: An act of dividing an Allotment Letter for shares into a greater number of allotment letters.
Stag: One who applies for more shares in a new issue than he can afford to retain in the hope of receiving allotment which can be sold at a profit soon after dealings begin.
Stale Bull: A speculator who has bought shares in anticipation for a short-term rise which has not materialized.
Stamp Duty: A tax payable on certain transactions.
Stock Split: An act of dividing one share (or a number of shares) into a greater number of shares, eg. a three-for-two Split. This is usually done in order to make shares cheaper on a per unit basis to broaden the appeal of a share.
Subscription Right: The right to subscribe for a stock or share at a certain price at some time in the future.
Subsidiary: Defined as a company whose shares is more than 50 per cent owned by another company.
Sweetener: An additional ‘bait’ offered together with a less popular security in order to make it more marketable e.g. a Warrant can be offered together with a Loan Stock