Hotel and restaurant staff pocket up to £84,000 in company shares
20:04, 03 Feb 2014
Face of Premier Inn: Lenny Henry(Image: BPM)
Nearly 1,100 Whitbread workers will pocket up to £84,000 each in a bumper shares payout.
Staff at the firm, which owns Costa Coffee and budget hotel chain Premier Inn, plugged by comedian Lenny Henry, are quids in after two shares schemes delivered a £6million windfall.
Someone who saved the maximum £250 a month for the past five years paid in about £15,000 over that time.
But the 415% increase in Whitbread’s share price since 2008 means that they can look forward to a cool £69,000 tax- free profit. About 160 workers are part of the five-year scheme, with another 895 in a three-year scheme making up to £15,000 on the £9,000 they put in.
Costa store manager Chris Thompson is getting the maximum payout from the five-year scheme. Chris, who plans a trip to New Zealand, said: “It’s potentially life-changing.”