4.6 Issue of Securities at Premium

Shares may be issued above par (the premium) — where the venture's value exceeds nominal capital (the established company's further issues). The discipline: the premium is capital, not profit — carried in the share premium account, usable only for the statutory capital-purposes (bonus issues' capitalisation, the issue-expenses' faces, the write-up faces per the Act's discipline), never as distributable profit. The counterpart: shares may not be issued at a discount below par (the classical prohibition — the nominal capital's sanctity), save where a statute expressly provides a valued exception.