(1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires,—
“accounting year” shall be construed in accordance with section 17 of this Act;
“acquired company” means—
(a)a company falling within Part I of Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 to this Act, or
(b)a company in respect of which the obligation to give notice under section 26(9) above has arisen, other than an excluded company;
“aircraft industry vesting date” means such date as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument specify for the purposes of section 19(1) of this Act;
“associated person”, in relation to a company or its wholly owned subsidiary, means—
(a)a person who controls the company, or
(b)a body corporate controlled by a person who also controls the company;
“the Corporations” means British Aerospace and British Shipbuilders, and references to a Corporation shall be construed accordingly;
“date of transfer” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (5) below;
“enactment” includes an enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly;
“” has the meaning assigned to it by [F1section 548 of the Companies Act 2006];
“excluded company” has the meaning assigned to it by section 27(11) above;
“functions” includes powers and duties;
“group of companies” means a company and all other companies which are its subsidiaries;
“guided weapon” does not include a torpedo;
“holding company” shall be construed in accordance with [F2section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006];
“loan capital”, in relation to any company, means the securities of the company which do not form part of the share capital;
“mortgage” in relation to Scotland, means a heritable security within the meaning of section 9(8) of the M1Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970;
“notice of disclaimer” has the meaning assigned to it by section 31(6) above;
“pension”, in relation to any person, means a pension, whether contributory or not, of any kind whatsoever payable to or in respect of him, and includes a gratuity so payable and a return of contributions or insurance premiums to a pension fund with or without interest or any other addition;
“pension rights” includes all forms of right to or eligibility for, the present or future payment of a pension to or in respect of a person, and any expectation of the accruer of a pension to or in respect of a person under any customary practice, and also includes a right of allocation in respect of the present or future payment of a pension;
“pension scheme” includes any form of arrangements for the payment of pensions, whether subsisting by virtue of an Act, trust, contract or otherwise, and also includes any customary practice under which pensions are paid;
“public dividend capital” and “public dividends” have the meaning assigned to them by section 16 of this Act;
“the relevant Corporation”, in relation to a company which comes into public ownership, or in relation to any securities of such a company, means the Corporation in which vest, on the date of transfer, the securities of that company or of the company of which it is a wholly owned subsidiary;
“the relevant days” means 27th December 1973 and every Wednesday, other than 26th December 1973, in the period of 6 months beginning on 1st September 1973;
“relevant trade union”, in relation to either Corporation, means any independent trade union, [F4within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992], which the Corporation or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries recognises for the purposes of collective bargaining, [F4within the meaning of that Act], . . . F5
“the relevant vesting date” means—
(a)in relation to British Aerospace or a company which becomes, or would but for the provisions of section 27 of this Act become, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Aerospace, the aircraft industry vesting date, and
(b)in relation to British Shipbuilders or a company which becomes, or would but for the provisions of section 27 of this Act become, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Shipbuilders, the shipbuilding industry vesting date;
“securities”, in relation to a company, means any shares, debentures, debenture stock, loan stock, income notes, income stock, funding certificates and securities of a like nature;
“” includes stock resulting from the conversion of any share into stock;
“shipbuilding industry vesting date” means such date as the Secretary of State may be order made by statutory instrument specify for the purposes of section 19(2) of this Act;
“shipyard” includes any berth, dock or slipway used for the construction of ships;
“stockholders’ representative” means, in relation to a company or the securities of a company, the individual appointed under section 41 of this Act to represent the holders of securities of that company;
“subsidiary” has [F6the meaning given by] s[F2 section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006];
“voting power” does not include voting rights which arise only in limited circumstances;
“wholly owned subsidiary” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of [F7section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006]; and
“works” means, subject to subsection (6) below,—
any factory, within the meaning of the M2Factories Act 1961,
any aerodrome, as defined in [F8section 105(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1982],
any shipyard which does not fall within paragraph (a) above, and
any premises used by way of trade or business for the purposes of the storage, transport or distribution of any articles or for the supply of electricity or other form of power,
together with any machinery or equipment installed in any such factory, shipyard or premises and any land occupied for the purposes referred to in paragraph (d) above.
(2)For the purposes of this Act, in relation to land in England, Wales or Northern Ireland,—
(a)“own” includes hold on lease;
(b)“rights of ownership” means an estate in fee simple or a lease; and
(c)property owned by a member of a partnership and held by him for the purposes of the partnership shall be deemed to be owned by each of the members of the partnership.
(3)For the purposes of this Act, in relation to land in Scotland,—
(a)“own” includes hold on lease;
(b)[F9 “ rights of ownership ” means—
(i) if the land is feudal property, the estate or interest of the proprietor of the dominium utile, or
(ii)if the land is not feudal property, the estate or interest of the owner, or
(iii)a lease; and]
[F9“rights of ownership” means the rights—
(i)of an owner; or
(ii)of a tenant under a lease;]
(c)property owned by a member of a partnership and held by him for the purposes of the partnership shall be deemed to be owned by the firm.
(4)Any reference in this Act to a company which comes into public ownership is a reference to an acquired company or a company which, on the date of transfer of an acquired company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of that company; and any reference to a company coming into public ownership shall be construed accordingly.
(5)Subject to section 27(7)(b) of this Act, in relation to a company which comes into public ownership, any reference in this Act to the date of transfer is a reference—
(a)in the case of a company falling within Part I of Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 to this Act or the wholly owned subsidiary of such a company, to the relevant vesting date; and
(b)in the case of any other company which comes into public ownership, to the date on which the securities of the company or, as the case may be, of the company of which it is a wholly owned subsidiary vest in a Corporation by virtue of section 26 above.
(6)For the purposes of this Act—
(a)notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) above, the expression “works” does not include any factory, aerodrome, shipyard or other premises or land situated outside the United Kingdom;
(b)the extension, alteration or re-equipment of any works or the replacement of any machinery or equipment therein shall not be deemed to change the identity of the works; and
(c)in determining whether a company is operating any works at a particular time, any temporary closing of the works at that time owing to holidays, repairs or for any other reason shall be disregarded.
(7)For the purposes of this Act the securities of a company to which the same rights attach shall be deemed to constitute a class of securities, and the date of issue of any securities shall be deemed to be the date on which a resolution allotting those securities is passed.
(8)For the purposes of this Act a person controls a company or other body corporate if he is entitled to exercise or to control the exercise of at least one third of the voting power at any general meeting of that body corporate.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in s. 56(1) substituted (1.10.2009) by The Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/1941), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 36(3)(a) (with art. 10)
F2Words in s. 56(1) substituted (1.10.2009) by The Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/1941), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 36(3)(b) (with art. 10)
F3S. 56(1) entries repealed (22.7.2004) by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2004 (c. 14), Sch. 1 Pt. 16 Group 1
F4Words in s. 56(1) substituted (16.10.1992) by Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52), ss. 300(2), 302, Sch. 2 para. 8(3)(a)(b).
F5Words repealed by Employment Act 1980 (c. 42, SIF 43:5), s. 20(3), Sch. 2
F6Words substituted by Companies Act 1989 (c. 40, SIF 27), ss. 144(4), 213(2), Sch. 18 para. 16 (subject to the transitional provisions referred to in S.I. 1990/1392, arts. 2(d), 6)
F7Words in s. 56(1) substituted (1.10.2009) by The Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/1941), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 36(3)(c) (with art. 10)
F8Words substituted by Civil Aviation Act 1982 (c. 16, SIF 9), s. 109(2), Sch. 15 para. 18
F9S. 56(3)(b) substituted (S.) (28.11.2004) by Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp 5), ss. 71, 77(2), Sch. 12 paras. 38 (with ss. 58, 62, 75); S.S.I. 2003/456, art. 2
Marginal Citations