Issued share capital is the nominal value of shares actually issued to shareholders.

• A. Total market value of those shares.
• B. Nominal value of shares actually issued to shareholders.
• C. Market capitalization of the company.
• D. Current net asset value of the company.

Answer: (B)

Issued share capital is the nominal (face) value of the shares that the company has actually issued to shareholders. This figure uses the par value per share, multiplied by the number of shares issued, and doesn’t reflect the price at which those shares trade or were sold.

So if a company issues, say, 500,000 shares with a nominal value of $2, the issued share capital is $1,000,000, regardless of the price investors paid per share. Any amount received above the nominal value goes into share premium.

This differs from the total market value of those shares, which would use the current trading price and could be much higher or lower. Market capitalization is the market value of all outstanding shares, not the nominal value. The current net asset value is driven by the company's assets and liabilities, not the par value of issued shares.