The recent upsurge of revenue at the UK bookies William Hill has arrived just on cue for the 550 UK employees who decided to join the companies three year sharesave plan back in 2010. William Hill has seen revenue rise by as much as 20% to £751.6m in the first half of the year, thanks to great performance in both online and mobile gambling; and the employees are about to receive their just desserts.
The end of the sharesave plan means those who chose to invest will see the benefit from a rise in shares from £1.48 back in July 2010 to the current price of £4.86. The payout is going to total £3.5m; the exact amount that was paid out to 700 employees when the last three-year sharesave scheme paid out in 2012. Over 3,000 William Hill employees partake in the scheme, which is now in its 11th year of operation.
David Russell, HR Director at William Hill, said: “It’s great for us to be able to celebrate the success of the company with our teams in this way. It’s through their hard work, commitment and dedication that we are so successful and, in two years, more than 1,200 employees have reaped a £7m payout from the scheme.”
Sharesave schemes are a low-risk investment vehicle that make a little bit of sacrifice worth all of the effort. Best of all, you don’t even see the money as it’s taken directly out of your pay packet. William Hill employees can save anywhere between £5 and £250 per month for either a three or five year period. At the end of the scheme the employees are then able to purchase shares at a 20% discounted price.
If a William Hill employee had invested the maximum of £250 per month when the scheme started back in 2010, they would now be expecting to see a further £20k in addition to the £9k they had already invested, based on the share price of £4.86.
