MORE THAN 500 glum -faced employees at ASDA's store at Monk's Cross, York today watched as 25 lucky colleagues scooped a shares bonanza worth almost £3,000 each.

The fortunate few out of the 560 staff at the store were celebrating receiving shares from ASDA's sharesave scheme.

They are among 4,000 ASDA store employees nationwide to receive more than £34 million from the scheme.

Richard Woodhall, store manager, said other employees had been left out because the windfalls have matured after five years, and five years ago, few of the current staff were at the store or in the scheme.

The payout - a potential windfall worth between £2,700 and £69,000 each - results from the 18.5 million options granted in 1994 for only 47p each.

The latest share price is 188p - a 300 per cent rise over the last five years reflecting ASDA's outstanding trading performance. Sue Nutbrown, administrative supervisor at ASDA's store at Monk's Cross, and a participant in the share scheme, said: "A small investment in an expanding company such as ASDA has given us excellent returns for our money. I now wish I had saved more."

Sharesave encourages employees to save anything from £5 to £250 per month for three or five years, with a 20 per cent discount on the share price.

At the end of the savings period, employees also gain a tax-free bonus and can choose to use their savings plus bonus to buy ASDA shares at the original option price, a mixture of shares and cash or take it all in cash. Over 32,000 employees currently contribute to the ASDA sharesave scheme.

ASDA's chief executive Allan Leighton, said: "We believe that giving all colleagues the opportunity to share in the success they work hard for is the key to delivering great service to our customers. That's what real stakeholding is all about."

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