Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Shares definition

What does Shares mean? In company law practice, a share is a unit of a member’s interest in a company, carrying the rights and obligations attached to its class (for example, voting, dividends and return of capital on a winding up). The Companies Act 2006 simply states that a share is a share in a company’s share capital; the Irish Companies Act 2014 adopts a broadly equivalent approach. Usage and effect are consistent across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. A company’s share capital comprises the number of shares it allots and issues to investors on or after incorporation. Those...

UK Employee Share Incentives A–Z: Practitioner Glossary of Schemes, Tax, Corporate Governance and Valuation Terms

Published by a LexisNexis Share Incentives expert

Practice notes

The Share Incentives glossary

This glossary gathers essential definitions for share incentives terminology and points to relevant resources. It is updated on an ongoing basis as we identify additional terms for inclusion, and currently covers the following:

Accelerated vesting – Permits an employee to bring forward the standard vesting timetable under which they obtain access to share awards and/or Shares. This commonly (though not always, and not exclusively) occurs on an ‘exit’ event.
AIM – A Securities market set up and operated by London Stock Exchange plc, launched on 19 June 1995. It enables smaller and medium-sized growth companies to float shares with lighter admission Requirements and continuing obligations than the main regulated markets. Previously the Alternative Investment Market, it is now referred to simply as AIM. For further information on share scheme requirements and matters affecting an AIM-traded company, see Practice Notes: Share scheme issues for an AIM company and Continuing obligations of an AIM company.
Annual general meeting (AGM) – A general meeting that certain companies are required to hold each year. A public company must hold an AGM each year within the period of six months beginning with the date following its...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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