ASDA employees share £37.5 million payout

Almost 20,000 ASDA employees are today celebrating the fact they will share in a £37.5 million payout as a result of participating in a Save-As-You-Earn (SAYE) employee share plan.

Those who saved the maximum £250 per month for the past 3 will receive approximately £12,700 - a gain of £3,700 on their original £9,000 investment.

The average amount saved by Asda employees each month was £43, giving a return of £2,185, compared with an investment of £1,548.

Phil Hall, Head of Public Affairs at ifs ProShare, the voice of the employee share ownership industry, said: "We are naturally delighted that another ifs ProShare member company has had such a strong performing SAYE scheme.

The success of this plan is great news for the checkout assistants, delivery drivers and other employees at Asda who will benefit from a bumper payout.

It is also good news for SAYE schemes in general as this acts as a positive example of the benefits saving in this way can have. The success of the Asda SAYE scheme should serve as an inspiration to both employees not participating in their company scheme and companies not currently offering any form of employee share ownership to their workers.

Put simply, employee share plans are a simple but effective method of tax efficient saving, with employees gaining a stake in the company they work for and the opportunity to share in the financial successes of their employer - as Asda have again proven today. "

Andy Bond, ASDA President and CEO added, "Since 1994, over 200,000 colleagues have benefited from ASDA Sharesave. It's our colleagues that drive the success of our business and Sharesave ensures they also reap the rewards."