Published 4 August 2026 · updated 9 September 2026 · 5 min read
Most companies are formed with a single £1 ordinary share. It is legal, it is free, and it is the decision people most often come back to fix.
The problem with one share
You cannot give someone 10% of one share. To bring in a co-founder, an investor or an employee, you have to issue more shares or subdivide the one you have — both of which mean resolutions, filings, and a conversation about valuation you were not planning to have that week.
What to do instead
Issue 100 shares of £0.01, or 1,000 of £0.001. Your total share capital is still £1. Your liability is unchanged. But now you can transfer or issue 1%, 10% or 25% without any restructuring at all.
Nominal value is not worth
The nominal value is the face value — what a shareholder owes the company if the share is unpaid. It is not what the share is worth. A company with 100 penny shares can be worth a million pounds; the nominal value stays £1 in total.
Should the shares be paid or unpaid?
Shares can be issued unpaid, in which case the shareholder owes the company that amount. It is a real debt, and it appears on the public statement of capital, which lenders and buyers do read. Paying a pound at formation avoids explaining it later.
One class or several?
One class of ordinary shares is right for most new companies. Multiple classes let you pay different dividends to different holders, or give someone economics without voting control — useful, and worth doing deliberately with advice rather than by accident on a form.
What actually needs deciding
- How many shares in total, at what nominal value
- Who holds what, and whether that reflects what people are actually contributing
- Whether anyone crosses 25%, which makes them a person with significant control
- Whether you need more than one class
- What happens if a shareholder leaves — which is a shareholders' agreement question, not a formation one
None of this costs more at formation. All of it costs money to fix afterwards.
Nothing here is advice about your situation
It is general information about how UK company registration works, written to be accurate at the time of publication. Rules and fees change. Where a decision matters — tax, structure, an insolvent company — take advice on your own facts.