How The Staff Reacted

Abstract

To persuade a third of your staff to invest in a unique experiment, the concept of which was entirely foreign to them, is a remarkable achievement of which NFC is justifiably proud. But every coin has two sides — and if a third of NFC’s employees invested it means that two-thirds did not. Applications for shares on Dealing Days by workers who did not subscribe initially show that some of them now wish that they had, but the figures show the proportion to be not very high, and the most likely motivation is the visibly successful performance of the shares in terms of dividends declared and increasing capital value since the offer. It is interesting to note, too, that on Dealing Days there is an overwhelming preponderance of those who took up shares initially wanting to add to their holding. The obvious question is: why the split?

Q. (SM). What would your reaction have been right at the beginning if your husband had come home from work one night and said he wanted to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy shares in his own company?

A. (Manager’s wife). Oh, but we did take out a second mortgage. It was my idea.

From a conversation at an NFC shareholders meeting.