COMING SOON! Electronic dividends on the employee portal
Over the last 2 years, we have been transforming employee experience and driving process efficiency in relation to employee share plans by leveraging the Shareworks technology.
The next phase of that transformation means that from the final dividend payment in October 2020 we are moving to pay dividends on *employee shares held in Sharestore, UK Share Incentive Plan and ROI share plans electronically!
*Any certificated shares that have come from and employee share plan and are held on the register with Link, Diageo's registrar, will continue to be managed by them.
Cheque dividends for employee shares will be a thing of the past! Not only does it cost more to print and send cheques but there is also more risk of cheques being lost, incurring costs to obtain duplicates, or being fraudulently intercepted. Electronic payments are more environmentally friendly and so from this October you will be able to view and manage your dividends electronically in one place alongside your employee shares on the share plan portal.
Dividends are normally paid twice a year. Employee shares held in the Sharestore, UK Share Incentive Plan and ROI share plans are usually eligible to receive dividends. To receive a dividend you must hold shares on the dividend “record date”. Dividend dates are announced with the Company’s results and you can refer to “Dates for your diary” for a calendar of key up and coming dates
Dividend Reinvestment
If you hold shares in Sharestore you will also have the option to reinvest your dividends and receive more shares. Refer to your Sharestore terms and conditions for more information. To elect to have your dividends reinvested make sure you manage your dividend election through your online personal profile and elect the plan reinvestment option (through “manage dividend elections”).
International Payments
Diageo dividends are paid in GBP. You can easily elect to have your dividend converted to your local currency and paid to your local bank account through your share portal account. Simply follow the onscreen instructions when withdrawing your dividend from your online account. Fees apply for international bank transfers and these are presented when completing your transaction.
Certificated Shares
If you hold paper share certificates (i.e. that have been issued to you from shares that have matured or been released from an employee share plan and can’t be held electronically) then dividends on these shares will continue to be paid to you by Diageo’s Registrar.
You can contact the Registrar on 0371 277 1010 or visit www.diageoregistrars.com to find out more information about dividends on certificated shares.