Company Sharesaver

worcester1

Hi,

For the past 3 years I have been saving £200 p/m into a company share saver scheme. This has now ended and my savings stands at (£7,200 + £480 bonus) which buys me 853 shares. I have been offered three options;

• Buy shares
• Withdraw savings
• Buy some shares and take some savings out.

The shares were offered to us at 20% less than the face value (£9) which at the time was £12. Now up until 10 months ago the shares were at £22 (was counting the chickens) but thanks to the credit crunch it now stands at a messy £10 per share.

Now my question is what should I do? Should I hold onto them for the next three years hoping that they will go back to the £18-£20 per share? Or cash them?

Although I can find some use for the money, I am not desperate for the cash.

Decadent_Fool

Are we allowed to know which company it is please?

worcester1

sure,

It's Homeserve - it's a very well run company with businesses in America, France & Spain

see link http://www.homeserve.com/

gozomark

I'm not a big fan of owning shares in the company you work for, particularly in the current environment. If the company goes bust you lose your job and the value of your shares.

How much of your savings and investments do these represent ?

worcester1

It's £7,680 in savings - @ £10 per share = £8,533

but savings rates are so low

Decadent_Fool

Do you have access to this years business plan at all? I wouldn't hold out for high value again, but perhaps set yourself a sell limit, and think about what you'd be happy achieving upwards. When it reaches that point, reassess.

The price has been pretty stable for the last 3 months ( http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/shares/3/87602/twelve_month.stm ), so stands a realistic chance of clawing it's way upwards as the market as a whole recovers. Obviously, nothing is guaranteed!

opinions4u

You should have up to 6 months to make a decision.

Wait 5 and then you have a clearer picture of what gains could be made.

gozomark

worcester1 wrote: »

It's £7,680 in savings - @ £10 per share = £8,533

but savings rates are so low

sorry, I meant how much is this of your total savings and investments

worcester1

I would say just under half of my total savings. I have just started another (1st payment end of this month) for the next 3 years. This time for £250 bought at £7 p/s - again discounted at 20%. I was hoping that in 2012 the value of the shares would have picked up - with a total of 2,224 shares (853 + 1,371) I can cash in and pay-off a chunk of my mortgae or even all of it

I figure that no other savings rates will offer me a better return - well provided that the company don't go bust. I can honestly say that this will or should not happen as its pretty in a good shape even in these tough times. Profit expectations are in line, policy take-ups are okay, customer retention is manageable and we are venturing into other areas of the insurance and repairs market.

The only other change I foresee iin the next 3 years is us taking-over a bigger rival company or the other way round.

gozomark

what happens if the company goes bankrupt ? Are your savings protected ?

Farway

gozomark wrote: »

what happens if the company goes bankrupt ? Are your savings protected ?

Can't speak for OP, but normally the savings are held elswhere, like a Building Society, in my company scheme for instance it was Yorkshire BS, so to answer general question, if company goes bust savings are safe