IT WILL take some more time, but Cable & Wireless Communications may yet turn itself from the ugly duckling of the telecoms sector into something resembling an elegant swan. They can get 10 per cent off their holidays which is worth pounds 125 for an average family up to December and keep their pounds 500 in the bank and earn interest on it.”Thomson Corporation of Canada, which sold the tour operator, is expected raise a minimum of pounds 1.25bn from the sale, representing a gain to the parent company of about pounds 813m.. We believe we have come up with a fair compromise for those people that missed out on the shares. The sharp rise in the share price means Thomson’s directors, led by Paul Brett, the chief executive, are already sitting on a profit of more than pounds 750,000 from the shares they were able to purchase in the flotation.Mr Brett said: “I am absolutely delighted at the level of support we had at the flotation from the public. But these investors will have to buy shares at a higher price in the market to receive discounts on holidays after 31 December. And Thomson has come under fire for not allocating extra shares in the flotation to those who missed out through no fault of their own.

Those who were awarded an allocations saw their shares gain 23.5p on the 170p flotation price.Share shops involved in the flotation include The Share Centre, Barclays Stockbrokers, Hargreaves Landsdown, NatWest Stockbrokers and Skipton Building Society.Thomson has tries to placate investors by offering them the chance to enjoy flotation perks such as 10 per cent off all the holidays. Share shops also failed to cope with the huge rush of investors who registered at the last moment. The SFA has acted on numerous complaints from private investors by contacting share shops to seek an explanation. It could force the brokers to compensate the huge number of people who have not been able to buy shares and has the power to levy fines if its finds they have been at fault.
Thousands of investors who registered early for shares failed to receive application forms in time. SHARE shops involved in the flotation of Thomson Travel are under investigation from the Securities and Futures Authority (SFA), the industry regulatory, over the administrative errors which caused tens of thousands of potential investors to miss out on shares.

It could also ask the Office of Fair Trading to monitor the sector for a further two years.The MMC is scheduled to report its findings to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 20 November, exactly a year after the industry was referred for investigation.. The remedies, which are “entirely hypothetical”, include mandatory tendering for sub-underwriting and the capping of sub-underwriting fees.The MMC could require financial advisers to inform issuing companies of the alternatives to paying standard fees for share underwriting, or could recommend lead underwriters be appointed by competitive tender. Among other things, industry participants have been asked to consider whether the cost of underwriting has been artificially inflated, whether underwriting fees are sufficiently transparent and whether firms wishing to provide underwriting or sub-underwriting services are being denied the opportunity to do so.The issues letter also sets down 15 potential “remedies” the MMC could employ if it decided the complex monopolies “operate, or could be expected to operate, against the public interest”. If the market was fully competitive, the MMC said it “would expect fees to vary with risk” – that is, riskier share issues should be more expensive.The MMC’s issues letter asks members of the underwriting industry whether they believe the charging structure damages “the public interest”. A complex monopoly exists if there is a group of firms with at least a 25 per cent market share whose actions “prevent, restrict or distort competition”.Most companies are charged a standard 2 per cent fee by lead underwriters, and the MMC is concerned this charging structure reflects a fundamentally uncompetitive market.