Whitbread employees share £10m in Sharesave profits

Employees at hospitality giant Whitbread have collectively made more than £10m in profit from the company's Sharesave scheme.

A total of 1,378 people working for the business, which owns the Premier Inn, Costa, Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands, shared in the scheme.

Those in the five-year scheme stand to quadruple their original investment, with those in the three-year option set to almost triple theirs.

The option price for those in the three-year scheme was set at 1339p, while for those in the five-year scheme it was 1008p.

The share price was trading at £49.90 on 2 February 2015 (the maturity date). Those participants who saved the maximum of £250 per month stand to enjoy a £61,000 profit on the five-year scheme, and £24,000 on the three-year scheme.

There were 1,295 people in the three-year scheme, saving an average of £70.75 per month and enjoying, on average, over £6,000 each in profit.

There were 122 people in the five-year scheme, with average monthly savings of £48.78, equating to an average profit of £12,000 each.

Stephen Atherton, assistant manager at Brewers Fayre in Widness saved £250 per month, the maximum available at that time, in the five-year scheme. He said: "I'm absolutely over the moon. I never expected to gain this much from the scheme. I've decided to hang onto the shares as I'm hoping the share price will keep going up, and I want to keep it for a fun retirement.

"I've been with Whitbread for more than 20 years and have seen a lot of changes. It's been really interesting following the share price as Whitbread has evolved."

Andy Harrison, Whitbread CEO said: "I'm really delighted for those Whitbread team members who stand to make a significant profit on the back of a sharp rise in our share price over the past few years. Our team members work tremendously hard delivering everyday outstanding service to our millions of customers and it's great that they can personally share in the company's success in this way."