Hundreds of postal workers in Huddersfield are set to get a second allocation of free shares following the Royal Mail sell-off.
And they are set to be worth many hundreds of pounds.
About 450 eligible employees in the town will receive their 2014 handout in April. Each eligible full-time employee is entitled to 112 free shares next month – bringing the total number of free shares allocated to each 725 each.
Eligible part-time employees are entitled to a pro-rata number of free shares in the second allocation, based on their paid hours between July 10 and October 13, 2013. The allocation date is expected to be April 9, 2014.
As part of the flotation of Royal Mail, eligible employees were given 10% of shares in the company – more than in any other UK privatisation for almost 30 years.
More than 99% of eligible employees took part in the October, 2013, allocation of free shares and as shareholders are eligible for any dividends the company might pay.
The initial market value of free shares for each full-time eligible employee – based on the closing mid-price on October 15, 2013 – was £3,545.25. As that exceeded HM Revenue & Custom’s annual limit of free shares – which at the time of the flotation was £3,000 – eligible full-time employees were allocated 613 free shares worth £2,997.57 last year.
The remaining 112 free shares are the ones to be allocated in April.
Moya Greene, chief executive of Royal Mail plc, said: “Our people are the heart of our business. Their stake in our company provides greater alignment between the interests of employees and shareholders. I am delighted that our colleagues will have the opportunity to benefit from our potential future success.”
Click here to take you back to more Huddersfield news.
To follow us on Twitter click here
