11,000 Sainsbury's colleagues cash in with £26.5 million payout

Sainsbury's today announces that over 11,000 colleagues will share in the company's success as two Sharesave schemes mature, with the biggest savers set to net over £3,000 each.

With the share price of £2.97 when the three-year and five-year schemes matured and were exercised, Sainsbury's colleagues saw an average 29% increase on their original savings across over 11,000 saving contracts. The value of shares subject to the maturity over the last six years is over £139 million.

Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury's Customer Service and Colleague Director, said: "This is great news for thousands of our colleagues, providing an extra reward for the vital role they play in delivering fantastic service to customers and driving our success."

All Sainsbury's colleagues with three months continuous service are invited to join. There are currently almost 26,000 colleagues saving between £5 and £250 a month into 63,000 Sainsbury's Sharesave contracts.

The scheme works by setting a price at the start of the term at which colleagues can buy shares at the end of the term (a 20 per cent discount on market rate at time price is set). At the end of the term a tax free bonus is added. Colleagues can decide to take their savings plus tax free bonus as cash or invest this in Sainsbury's shares at the option price.

Notes to editors

1. Pictured above is Annalisa Ditano from our Blackhall store near Edinburgh
2. Colleagues who joined the 2006 five year plan will receive a tax free bonus of 5.5 times their monthly savings (3.46% AER) - option price £3.28
3. Colleagues who joined the 2008 three year plan will receive a tax free bonus of 2.4 times their monthly savings (4.23% AER) - option price £2.24
4. Colleagues have until 31st August to decide what they would like to do with their savings and bonus
5. Colleagues have three choices: they can either use their savings and bonus to buy shares at the option price and keep them; use all of the savings and bonus to buy shares at the option price and sell them immediately; or lastly take all their savings and bonus as cash.