If you watch how you spend your money and try hard to save, there ‘s one trick you may be missing – shareholder perks.
Investors do not have to plough wads of money into a company to qualify for extra discounts and exclusive deals.
In fact, they may be a lot cheaper than you think.
Some companies will want investors to hold a significant number of shares, but many offer perks to those with just a single share.
The good news is anyone investing in shares through a big fund supermarket platform should get the perks even though the shares are held in the name of the nominee company and not directly by the investor.
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To make a claim, call or email the platform.
Make buying shares more fun
Although the perks are not a reason to invest, they do make buying shares a little more fun.
Besides the perks, investors will pick up any dividends the company pays, plus hopefully any growth in the value of the shares.
Don’t forget that the cost of investing may outweigh the benefits from share perks. To work out the cost of the discount, multiply the share price by the number of shares needed to trigger the perk.
For example, Bloomsbury Publishing is magic for readers – pay out £2.80 for a 35% discount on any books the company publishes – including the Harry Potter series.
Not so cool is the 454,000 euro stake needed in Eurotunnel for 30% off six regular trips each year. That good take a lot of tips to repay the investment.
Some companies will pull their share perks, so check the deal before buying.
The share prices are correct at the time of publication, but may rise and fall.
So here’s a list of companies offering investors share perks in the UK:
UK companies offering shareholder perks
| Company | Company type | Shares to trigger perks | Share price (x1) | Perk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associated British Foods | Fashion and food | 1 | 2486p | Basket of freebies at company agm |
| Adnams | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 1 | 10,500p | 15% discount on Adnams store purchases, meals and accommodation at Adnams hotels |
| Bellway | House builder | 2,000 | 3315p | £2,000 for each £25,000 off the value of a new home |
| Big Yellow | Storage | 1 | 1119p | 10% discount on storage, packing materials and insurance |
| Bloomsbury Publishing | Publisher | 1 | 280p | 35% off cover price of all printed Bloomsbury books |
| BT | Telecommunications | Variable | – | 20% off BT products and variable discounts off third-party products |
| Carnival | Cruise line | 100 | 3,119p | Onboard credit depending on cruise |
| Chapel Down | Winemaker | 500 | 82p | 25% one-off discount voucher |
| Character Group | Toys, games and giftware | 1 | 420p | 20% off online purchases |
| Countrywide Farmers | Country and outdoor pursuits | 3,000 | 500p | 5% discount on purchases |
| Euro Disney | Theme park & attractions | 1,000 | 34p | 15% off tickets and park restaurants; 10% off hotels |
| Eurotunnel | Travel | 30,000 | 15 euros | 30% off 6 regular trips each year |
| Fuller, Smith & Turner | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 500 | 960p | 15% discount on food and drink, 10% off hotels |
| Greene King | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 100 | 849p | 25% off food and drink |
| Inchcape | Car sales and servicing | 100 | 647p | 15% off servicing and parts, £100 off new and used cars |
| Irish Continental | Ferry services | 1,000 | 4.75 euros | 20% off Ireland/UK trips, 10% Ireland/France trips and 5% off package holidays |
| Johnson Service Group | Dry cleaning | 1 | 177p | Money off dry cleaning |
| Legal & General | Insurance | 1 | 270p | 15% off home and travel insurance, 25% off landlord insurance and 10% off pet cover |
| Majestic Wine | Wines, beers and spirits | 1 | 217p | Champagne voucher |
| Marks & Spencer | Fashion | 1 | 186p | Pack of discount vouchers each year |
| Marstons | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 500 | 126p | 20% discount off food and accommodation |
| Merlin Entertainments | Theme parks & attractions | 317 | 454p | 40% off annual passes |
| Mitchells & Butlers | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 1 | 438p | 20% discount off food and drink |
| Moss Bros | Fashion | 1 | 2111p | 20% discount at company shops |
| Mulberry | Fashion | 500 | 265p | 20% discount in some stores |
| National Grid | Electrical infrastructure | 1 | 878p | Ballot to enter shareholder program of talks and site visits |
| N Brown Group | Catalogue shopping | 1 | 120p | 20% off purchases |
| Newbury Racecourse | Horse racing | 100 | 820p | Two day pass – claim an annual pass with 5000+ shares |
| Next | Fashion | 100 | 6580p | 25% discount off a single purchase each year |
| Peel Hotels | Hotels | 1 | 57p | 50% discount |
| Persimmon | House builder | 1,000 | 2494p | 2% off a new house |
| Reckitt Benkiser | Health and hygiene products | 1 | 5904p | Company donates £1 to charity for every shareholder who registers online |
| Renishaw | Travel agent | 1 | 3780p | Package holiday discounts |
| Restaurant Group | Food and drink | 250 | 140p | 25% discount of food and drink |
| Safestore Holdings | Storage | 100 | 740p | 25% off storage and 20% off merchandise |
| Saga | Travel and financial services | 250 | 47p | 20% off up to £5,000 of merchandise each year |
| Share plc | Investment platform | 500 | 30p | 30% discount on online trading costs |
| Sheperd Neame | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 100 | 1180p | Money off food and accommodation |
| Stanley Gibbons | Stamp collecting | 1 | 2p | Free subscription to Gibbons Stamp Monthly magazine |
| Telecom Plus | Telecoms and energy | 1500 | 1326p | Special tariffs for shareholders |
| Tesco | Supermarket | 1 | 226p | Varied benefits announced to shareholders attending agm |
| Whitbread | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 64 | 4431p | Free Premier Inn breakfasts and 10% discount in restaurants |
| Young & Co | Brewer, restaurants & hotels | 1 | 1615p | Occasional discounts |
Please update benefits table