More than 23,000 BT staff are to profit from a £265m employee share scheme at the company, with some employees set to make more than £50,000 each.
The staff saved between £5 and £250 a month over a period of up to five years. They will now be able to buy shares on Monday at prices from when the schemes started.
The 13,000 staff who saved in the five-year scheme will be able to buy shares at £1.04 while 12,730 who saved under the three-year scheme will be able to buy at £1.89. The current BT share price stands at about £4.64.
The shares in question can be bought for a total of £77m under the scheme while their market value is £265m, representing a considerable profit for staff.
BT said the average gain for staff who saved for five years would be £10,236, while most of those who saved for three years would make £4,400.
Those who saved the maximum amount per month – £250 – in the five-year scheme would stand to make £54,064 if they sold the shares at current prices. Those that saved the maximum amount in the three-year scheme would profit by more than £13,000.
Almost 23,000 BT staff last year received an average of £42,000 as part of a share ownership scheme totalling £1.1bn. Almost a third of BT’s UK staff took part in the schemes which are maturing on Monday, said the company.
BT’s chief executive Gavin Patterson credited the staff with gains in the share price. “I’m delighted that so many BT colleagues are sharing in the company’s success through our Saveshare plans,” he said.
BT announced this week that it is on track to meet full-year expectations after a growth in revenues at its TV and broadband services. The company will launch a new sports channel featuring Uefa Champions League and Europa League games this weekend, a feature which has been credited for the boost in sales at its TV division.
In 2013, BT finalised a deal with Uefa to exclusively broadcast Champions League matches from this year, beating BSkyB and ITV in the process.
The company’s former chief executive, Ian Livingston, who left in 2013, is credited with successfully reviving BT. When he became boss in June 2008, the former state-owned monopoly was burdened with huge debts and growing costs. He led a change, which involved cutting overheads and bringing the company’s pension deficit under control.
