Tesco staff share in 126 million payout from Save As You Earn share scheme

Over 52,000 members of staff sharing a recession-busting 126 million payout.

Tescoís Save As You Earn share scheme encourages a strong savings ethic amongst employees.

While the Bank of Englandís base rate is at its lowest level in 300 years and high-street savings rates are at their lowest level since 1995*, employees at Tesco are this month reaping the rewards of saving in 5 and 3 year Save As You Earn share schemes that have delivered returns of 88% and 45% respectively.

Over 52,000 members of staff, who have saved between 5 and 50 a month, are sharing a 126m payout. More than eight thousand top savers, who have contributed the maximum 50 every month for the past five years, a total of 3,000 each, will receive more than 5,638. The strong return reflects the fact that, even in difficult market conditions, Tescoís share price has remained resilient closing at 3.47** on 2nd February when the two schemes matured.

This means the schemes far outperformed returns from high street savings accounts. If the same money had been saved in an account tracking the Bank of England base rate for the past five years the return would be just 12%. With the base rate fluctuating between 5.75% and 2% between 2003 and 2008, employees who had invested the equivalent annual amount of 600 in a high street account since the end of 2003 would have earned just 373 on their investment compared to 2,638 from Tescoís SAYE scheme.

David Potts, Retail Director for Tesco commented;
ìTescoís Save As You Earn scheme has yet again proved it really delivers. Despite the fact that they have good jobs, our staff are not immune to rising household costs and financial worries. The returns on this investment are well deserved by our staff and I am delighted that they are being rewarded for the performance of the company and the investments they themselves have made.î