Employees continue to buy Veidekke shares
All records were broken on Friday when Veidekke concluded its annual sale of shares to employees:
2,118 employees subscribed for nearly 3.5 million shares. "It make you feel humble," says Terje R. Venold, president & CEO of Veidekke. "Despite the uncertain times in the industry our employees have a firm belief in their own jobs, and they clearly see the value of owning shares in their own company. And the price is currently a rare bargain," Venold adds.
Ever since its IPO in 1986 Veidekke has given its employees an offer each year to buy shares in the company. The employees receive an offer to buy shares at a 20% discount of the quoted price in exchange for not selling the shares for two years. In the last five years an average of 1,115 employees have availed themselves of the offer, so this year's number of participants is almost double. The number of new shareholders is 461, which is considerably higher than the average for the last five years (320).
At the outset, 1.5 million shares were set aside for the sale, but at the end of the subscription period nearly 3.5 million had been ordered. Individuals could sign up for from 50 to 3,000 shares. The decision was therefore made to increase the number of shares available to 2.5 million. It was therefore necessary to reduce everyone's subscription, and the biggest cuts were made for those who ordered the most shares.
"It is naturally a very good sign for us that so many of our employees have chosen to buy shares. The current price is low compared with what it has been before, and this has also probably played a big role. Moreover, sales of shares to employees is an important part of Veidekke's culture. We know that ownership is a strong motivation factor for many and that it fosters greater commitment in general," says Venold.
"Surveys conducted for previous sales to employees show that long-term saving is an important factor when they purchase shares. Most therefore choose to keep their shares far beyond the two-year lock-in period, and for many the increase in value and dividends over time have yielded considerable additional income," concludes Venold.
After the conclusion of this year's share sale to Veidekke employees, nearly 50% of employees own just over 18% of the company.
For more information please contact:
President & CEO Terje R. Venold, tel +47 21 05 77 01 / 90 58 23 23, terje.venold@veidekke.no
Communications Director Kai Krüger Henriksen, tel +47 21 05 77 04 / 90 51 93 60, kai.henriksen@veidekke.no
Communications Manager Helge Dieset, tel. +47 21 05 77 91 / 90 55 33 22, helge.dieset@veidekke.no
Veidekke ASA is a leading Scandinavian building contractor and property developer with 6,500 employees and turnover of BNOK 19.3 (2007). The group is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and has a dispersed ownership structure with the employees owning 18% of the stock. The business spans a wide spectrum of building and construction projects, developing housing and commercial buildings for private and public sector clients, asphalt plants and road maintenance as well as collecting and recycling waste.