EXCLUSIVE: Vodafone Group has launched three- and five-year sharesave schemes to replace previous versions that will mature on 1 September.

The mobile telecoms firm’s maturing schemes have 1,300 participants among the 10,000 employees eligible to take part. Some 1,117 took part in the three-year scheme and 175 in the five-year scheme.

Vodafone’s share price as at 24 July was 178p, much higher than when the schemes were launched. The launch share prices stood at 93p in 2007 and 131p in 2009.

Staff were offered a 20% discount on the share price for both the maturing schemes and the new plans, which are all provided by Computershare.

Vodafone invited staff to join the next round of three- and five-year schemes by email last month. Mark Higgins, group share plan manager, said: “Employees can apply to join the plan online or via SMS text messaging, so those that don’t have access to a computer can still have access to the plan from their mobile device.”
It will begin communicating the sharesave maturity this month.

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