Clicks to pay out an average of R16 500 per employee
EMPLOYEES OF retail health-care group Clicks are set to share a whopping R1.44 billion after the group placed 7.83 million ordinary shares in an accelerated book build.
This comes after the disposal by the Clicks Group Employee Share Ownership Trust (Esop Trust) of up to 7 833 494 Clicks ordinary shares as a result of the unwinding of the second 50 percent of the scheme.
“The book build shares have been placed with 32 participating investors on behalf of the beneficiaries of the Esop Trust who elected to sell their Clicks Group ordinary shares at the book build price of R184 a share,” the group said.
It added that the book build price represented a discount of 5 percent, 5 percent and 4.2 percent to the closing price, three-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) and 30-day VWAP on February 6 of a Clicks group share, respectively.
Clicks launched the scheme in 2011, when the share price was around R44, to attract and retain scarce and critical skills, accelerate transformation, build employee commitment and enable employees to share in the growth and success of the business.
Only full-time Clicks employees could participate in the scheme and entry into the scheme closed in 2015.
Samantha Steyn, chief investment officer at Cannon Asset Managers, said this book build represented the remaining 50 percent of the Clicks Esop Trust a year after the first book build, whereby proceeds of R1.3bn were paid over to its 7 839 beneficiaries, representing an average pay-out of R16 500 per employee.
“The R1.44bn will be distributed to beneficiaries of the Clicks Esop Trust in a similar manner, and this shows the company’s commitment to continued wealth creation of its employees.”
In the year to end August, Clicks reported a 9.1 percent increase in turnover to R29.2bn, with retail sales growing by 10.8 percent and distribution turnover up by 8.4 percent.
Total income increased by 10.5 percent to R7.9bn.
In that period Clicks opened a record 41 new stores and expanded the store footprint to 663.
Clicks shares closed 3.80 percent lower at R186.41 on the JSE yesterday.