Thousands of BT employees profit from £265million share payout

Two save-as-you-earn plans pay out shares worth an average of around £10,200 and £4,400 for more than 23,000 BT employees

Top savers expected to make gains of more than £54,000

Thousands of BT people across the UK are set to reap the rewards of an employee share plan payout worth around £265m¹, as two share plans mature.

Nearly 13,000 individuals joined each of the five-year and three-year “saveshare” plans, which began in 2010 and 2012 respectively. Nearly 2,500 of these people participated in both plans, with people saving between £5 and £250 every month until July 2015.

Accrued monthly savings can be used to buy BT shares for both plans from Monday. Those in the 2010 five-year plan will be able to buy shares at £1.04, while people in the 2012 three-year plan can buy shares at £1.89. Respectively that’s a £3.6395 or £2.7895 discount compared to the £4.6795 share price when financial markets closed on Thursday.

The gains participants in both plans can make depend on how much they saved each month and on the share price on the day they sell any or all of the shares they have bought.

For example – using Thursday’s closing share price of £4.6795, the average gain for those selling immediately in the five-year plan would be £10,236. That is based on the average monthly saving in the plan of over £47. Those monthly savings will have built up into a total average fund of £2,925, enough to buy 2,813 shares which (as of last night) had a market value of £13,163.

People in the three-year plan could make an average gain of £4,400 from 1,578 shares with a market value of £7,384, based on this same share price.

Those who saved the maximum £250 a month in the five-year plan will be able to purchase 14,855 shares with a market value of £69,514, a gain of £54,064. Whilst those in the three-year plan will be able to purchase 4,761 shares with a value of £22,279, representing a £13,279 gain.

Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive of BT, said: “I’m delighted that so many BT colleagues are sharing in the company’s success through our saveshare plans.”

“The hard work and commitment shown by our employees has put BT in a strong position to better serve our customers.

"This is reflected in the increase in share price since people started saving and I would like to thank our people for the major part they’ve played in the company’s progress.”

Nearly a third of BT’s UK employees signed up for the plans, with nearly 2,500 people participating in both. In total, they can now buy around 56.5m shares. Based on Thursday night’s share price, this would suggest around £265m worth of shares available for BT saveshare participants to buy for around £77m.

The gains people make will depend on the share price on the day of any eventual sale and how much it exceeds the share purchase price.

Saveshare is a key benefit for BT people in the UK. The company has been offering a saveshare plan every year. This gives people the opportunity to make monthly savings from net pay for three or five years (or both). At the end of the savings period they have the choice to buy BT shares at the discounted price, or receive their money back. They can give simple online instructions to sell the shares, or to keep the shares in an online account, transfer them to a spouse/civil partner, or an ISA or put them into a company pension scheme.

¹ Based on the BT closing share price on 30 July 2015 of £4.6795 pence.

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