Standard Life shareholders to get small windfall next week

Standard Life shareholders are in line for a small windfall next week as the former mutual insurer marks its first anniversary on the stock market.

Some 76,000 Irish shareholders will benefit from a bonus share award worth an average €260 as Standard Life hands out £230 million to more than 1.7 million eligible shareholders in 48 countries.

On Tuesday the company celebrates a year on the stock market that has seen insurance sales soar and its shares jump by more than 40 per cent.

Although some carpetbaggers will have cashed in their shares soon after they received their demutualisation windfalls - up to 94,000 former members were estimated to have qualified for shares last summer - many have hung on to their investment.

Former members will be eligible to receive one bonus share for every 20 shares they held continuously since the company floated on the London stock exchange at a launch price of £2.30.

In the Republic, the average shareholding is 1,080 shares, meaning the average bonus shares will be 54. This gives a bonus worth €264 based on today's closing price of £3.31. This represents a gain of 44 per cent.

With a 1.7 per cent dividend declared in May and next week's 5 per cent bonus award, shareholders have seen their total investment increase by more than 50 per cent since flotation.

Standard Life Ireland's head of marketing, Brendan Barr, said some Irish shareholders had also bought extra shares under a preferential share offer, at which they were able to buy shares at a 5 per cent discount, or a price of £2.18.

Eligible shareholders will receive letters informing them of their bonus shares from July 23rd.

Shareholders who hold shares in the Standard Life Share Account will get their bonus stock by July 12th, whereas shareholders with certificates will receive additional certificates from July 23rd.

Britain's fifth largest life insurer ended eight decades of mutual ownership as part of a recovery plan that has seen the business pull back from its troubles during the equity downturn of 2000-03. (Additional reporting: Reuters)