need advice: Starship company shares.... how much?

[korg]

Ok, so my tramp trader crew have a share system going instead of an actual wage and Im trying to work out how much to make the shares worth...

100 shares (just to keep it simple), most of which are owned by the crew, but some of which have been traded for repairs or work. Now the crew are thinking of purchasing some of those 'outside' shares back and Im trying to work out how much.

The ship is a 40 year old bucket, but I can find/workout a price for that pretty easily. From memory I was working on the 20Million range (dont hold me to that

, so thats 200k per share.

My problem is that of income. The crew make ok profits per trip (they own the ship and have a reasonable trader skill) but, being an evil GM, I try to force major repairs as often as possible to keep the bank account low.

It seems wrong to sell a share in the ship for only the ships cost, (given that it seems to make a steady income at some level). But if I do figure in income, then how much does it effect share cost?

 

[Piper]

Hi;
This is an interesting question.

Have your players been paying out a portion of the profits as dividends? If so, you might get away with buying the outstanding shares back at cost.

If they haven't been paying dividends, and the ship has been showing a profit, it would be reasonable to expect the value of a share to rise. After all, why would anyone invest in it if there wasn't any return?

These Wikipedia articles; Stocks and PE Ratio and their links may provide some ideas.

 

[veltyen]

Strictly it is worth what you can sell it for

This depends on a lot of factors, one of the most important being risk. How does someone elsewhere keep track of a tramp trader that could just head off into the big black? Specifically that means that the ones holding shares on the ground may have a hard time selling the share to anyone else.

No honest, the ship does still exist.

If they have a lien on the ship (such as the original loan, or any borrowings against the ship) then that may be a little easier, and a little more palatable for those people on the ground. Financial services megacorps have much longer arms then all but the most powerful individuals. Some kind of surety would be nessersary, maybe something like a submarine bounty contract.

Just like any corporation the shares value is based on a lot of things.

Holdings: The ship. The ships fittings. The ships smallcraft. The contents of the ships locker.

Funds: Petty Cash. Working fund. Non-paid salaries.

Personel: The CEO (captain). Other important employees (On a tramp probably just the engineer).

The shares value changes on all these factors. If the captain has declared that she is leaving then the share price is going to drop. If a better captain is found then it is probably going to raise. If you intimate that you might skip out on your current shareholders you may be able to repurchase them at a much lower price....

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Korgie:
Ok, so my tramp trader crew have a share system going instead of an actual wage and Im trying to work out how much to make the shares worth...

Here's one suggestion: Take the amount of profit that a reasonable person would expect the ship to average per year over the next many years (Don't forget to take expected repairs into account). The true value of the ship should be something around 16 times that amount (This comes from the assumption that the standard return from investments in starships is 6.25% p.a. If you think the standard return should be something else, just use that figure instead, i.e. if you think 5% is more reasonable, the ship would be worth 20 times as much, etc.).

This would give you a ballpark figure. Now, what someone else would be willing to pay depends on a lot of things, such as how well the ship has actually done the last couple of years, how much the prospective buyer trusts that he will get his money, and whether or not he knows that the jump drive is due for a major refit.


Hans

 

[robject]

Wow, they managed to trade shares for maintenance work. They must be excellent salesmen, or the repair yards must rely on them heavily.

Hans is usually pretty sharp when it comes to these kinds of things.

Or you could guesstimate the value of the work done for shares (V) divided by the number of shares given in exchange for that work (N). V/N then is the value of one of those external shares...

Suppose the crew traded 20 shares for a major jump drive repair (say MCr4), and 20 shares for some contract mercenaries (say Cr50,000). Now the crew want those shares back. That's Cr4,050,000 / 40 shares, where one share is Cr101,250... throw in nearly 9% interest and you can round it up to a clean Cr110,000.

Sure, the crew got ripped off hiring the mercs, but maybe the mercs needed incentive, 'cause they really wanted cold, hard cash. Whatever works.

 

[Rossoneill]

If they sold shares it should be on the future profit of the ship ,otherwise why should I invest my money in shares or allow you to pay me in shares if im not making a Good Profit .
My personal view on shares on a Traveller Ship is basically like the sharing of the privateers voyages from the age of piracy on earth .
IE each share is worth a % of the profit from the voyage or voyages .
Of course it also depends on what was agreed to and or signed at the share issuance time
YMMV

 

[aramis]

This is time to steal from TNE. Assign the ship a wear value, from 0-10 (0 is showroom floor, 10 is Runs only when the engineer keeps it from falling apart; WV is also maintenance hours multiplier). Divide value by WV

 

[Straybow]

Divide by zero (showroom perfect)... infinite value??

Maybe showroom WV should be 1

 

[aramis]

Yeah, You're right, Straybow...

Or just treat 0 as 1 for value purposes on major items.