I’m acting as executor for my father’s will.
He left a small parcel of shares held as certificates, mainly for utilities privatised in the 80s/90s.

Can you recommend any company which would sell them for me – I tried the big Hargreaves & Lansdown but they can only deal in shares held electronically at the moment.
Thanks in advance.

Is now a good time to be flogging shares? Why not wait six months until the market recovers?

Is there a rush to sell? It ain’t a great time at the moment as generally share prices are low.
Are HL refusing to sell due to Covid or because you don’t have an account? It’s easy enough to open one. I sold some LandSec shares a couple of years ago through HL. Whether they still will sell them for you I don’t know, but it cost nowt!
Other online brokers – Charles Stanley, AJ Bell to name just two – may be more amenable, but a google of Stockbrokers will present you with dozens of options.

I need to sell them soon because of the primary beneficiaries in the will – his grandchildren mainly. I can’t distribute the estate until it’s all in pounds.

Well, you’re the Executor. It’s up to You, no-one else- when you distribute the funds. Have you explained to the beneficiaries they will get more if they wait a while?

FWIW, I’m pretty sure the certificates don’t mean anything any more, all the details of shareholders are held electronically.

Shares may be down, but there’s no guarantee they’ll go up anytime soon, so selling asap is the best option for all concerned.
The prob is handling the actual certificates… electronic sales are easier.

I am not sure you will find any firms who will dematerialise the certificates (i.e. make them electronic and register to their nominee account to hold and sell) at the moment. I don’t know the detail but issues with COVID and something about couriers/transportation too.

You could try:
https://www.charles-stanley-direct.co.uk/

Otherwise here are some that ‘trade in certicated share’, noting the first thing they will do is dematerialise them.
https://www.money.co.uk/share-dealing/certificated-share-dealing.htm

Just been through this process.

First you need to get probate , the value of the shares for Probate is the value on the date of death.
Once you have obtained probate , then you have two options. Either transfer the cerificated shares into the Name of the Estate once that is done you can sell the shares. You will need to set up a Bank Account in the name of the Estate, most of the high street banks will do this. You will need to send the original share certificates plus the probate certificate to the Share Registrar. Most of the Registrars actual have a dealing service for the main UK Shares, if you simply want to sell the Shares ( if the shares are sold within one year of death and for lower than the probate value then you can apply to get any Inheritance tax back. If sold for more the Estate may have a CGT liability depending on the actual gain – Estates get an independent CGT allowance in their own right, as well as an Income Tax allowance.) The second option is to Transfer the shares directly into the Name of the Benificiaries if they want you to, for future CGT calculations the carrying/transfer value will be the value used in the IHT calculation. The Benificiaries are then free to sell the Shares or hold them.
As an Executor , you have a duty of care – you are not theere to speculate on the market.

DM me if you want any other information. It is actually very straight forward.

The certificates are required by the Registrar to make the transfer into the name of the Estate – this should be free. If the certificates have been lost or destroyed the Registrar will ask for an indemnity and then issue new certificates – they normally charge for this .

In terms of Brokers , many brokers don’t want to be bothered with Estate accounts – expensive to set up and not going to be around for long hopefully (most Estates are settled within a year ), plus you have to do extensive KYC checks re anti-money laundering. The same is true for Trusts, lots of new anti-money laundering legislation to deal with.

Thank you all, especially HB47.
I might well DM you in a few days, ta for the suggestion.

Can you verify these shares are even current holdings?
I have a folio of shares that my dad purchased for me as a designated holder. 1 year later we still haven’t transferred everything across.
Anyway, mostly utilities but there’s not a single one that hasn’t reissued the shares since they were first purchased in the 80s/90s. Once reissued the old certificates are no longer of any use or value. It’s entirely possible he may have already surrendered the more recent share issues and this is just old paperwork.
You may want to start by verifying if the certificates represent current holdings. Easy by share value e.g. Severn Trent at 97 17/19p..any certs without that value are just paper.
Others may have merged or been bought out by others. BG for example is now Royal Dutch Shell so BG certs whilst not surrendered for RDS are worthless.