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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

It is not often that the Attorney-General leaves me speechless, but that leaves me speechless. A practitioner will tell you that nominal value bears no relationship to the market values we are talking about. You could have different classes of shares, some with high nominal value and some with low, and you could have a quite extraordinary outcome. I see my noble friend Lady Noakes nodding her head, and I think the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, may nod his head too. This is a serious point. If we are really saying nominal value, we are going up completely the wrong alley. This is not a political point, but a practical point from the City. We have to find a different definition of value if we are going to stay with the current phraseology. I will withdraw the amendment this afternoon, but I hope the Government will take a serious look at this. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. A162B not moved.]