Free shares currently worth around €25 million are expected to be left unclaimed when First Active's deadline for making claims for the free shares expires today. It is understood that, of the 19,000 unclaimed entitlements at the end of First Active's half-year in June, fewer than 1,000 valid claims will have been made by the time the deadline expires, despite an information campaign by First Active.

When First Active - the former First National Building Society - floated in October 1998, some 216,000 qualifying members were entitled to an allocation of 450 free shares. Almost 90 per cent of qualifying depositors and mortgage holders claimed their shares. Anybody who qualifies for free First Active shares and has not made a claim is losing out on a windfall currently worth €1,300 - more than £1,000.

For First Active, a take-up by 1,000 qualifying members will involve issuing at most 450,000 new shares in addition to the 141 million currently in issue. The small take-up of the outstanding free shares will have a positive effect on analysts' earnings forecasts for First Active, as most future earnings forecasts have included all of the outstanding 9.1 million shares, even those shares that were never actually issued.