Partnership and Matching Shares Plan FAQs

A few weeks after you have joined Aberdeen Group you will receive an email from EQ inviting you to join the plan. You can join the plan at anytime after you have received the email. If you join before the 13th of the month, your first deduction will be form that month’s pay. The first purchase of shares will take place on the 10th of the following month. However, please note the cut-off dates are earlier in December, details of this will be available on the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal.

You can change, stop or restart your contributions anytime, by logging into the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal and submitting an instruction.

If you request a change before the 13th day in any month, your request should typically take effect in the next payroll. Please note that an earlier cut off will apply for December contributions given the earlier than usual payroll cut off date. It is recommended that any changes you wish to make to apply from a December payroll are placed by late November to ensure that any requested changes are applied.

If you stop paying into the Plan, you don’t have to do anything with your shares as long as you are still employed by Aberdeen. The shares can stay in the Plan for as long as you are employed by Aberdeen.

You can join the Plan and continue to make contributions while on parental leave. The monthly amounts will be taken from your parental leave pay. Once parental leave pay stops, your contributions will be suspended. You can restart your contributions when you return to work. Your shares can stay in the Plan during your leave.

Deductions from your pay to buy Partnership shares under this agreement may affect your entitlement to, or the level of some contributory social security benefits, statutory maternity pay and statutory sick pay.

They may also have a similar effect in respect of some contributory social security benefits paid to your spouse or civil partner. With this agreement you should have been given information on the effect of deductions from your pay to buy Partnership shares on entitlement to social security benefits, statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay. The effect is particularly significant if your earnings are brought below the lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes and is explained in the information: it is therefore important that you read it. If you have not been given a copy, ask your employer for it. Otherwise a copy may be obtained from any office of His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, the Department of Work and Pensions, or, in Northern Ireland, the Department for Social Development.

Login to the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal at any time to see a detailed view of your account including current shareholding and the value of your shares. You’ll also receive a summary each year from EQ confirming the number of each type of share you hold in the Plan.

To see a breakdown of each transaction under the SIP you will need to click ‘View Plan’ on the Partnership and Matching Plan and in the ‘Share type’ section if you click on the different share types you will be able to view historical information.

The approximate value of Aberdeen Group plc’s shares and your holdings will be shown on the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal. The actual price you will get if you sell your shares will depend on the price available, at the time you sell, in the market.

No, you can leave your shares in the Plan for as long as you want to while you remain employed by Aberdeen. By leaving your shares in the Plan until you’re ready to sell them directly from the Plan, you will not have to pay any Capital Gains Tax on any potential gain.

You can take your Partnership Shares out of the Plan at any time.

If you sell or take Partnership Shares out of the Plan within three years of buying them, you will normally lose the Matching Shares linked to them. To get the full tax benefit on the Partnership Shares, you normally need to keep them in the Plan for five years.

Matching and Dividend Shares can normally be sold or taken out of the Plan only after they have been held for three years. To get the full tax benefit on the Matching Shares, you normally need to keep them in the Plan for five years.

Please note, the tax benefit periods outlined above come are considered for each monthly purchase, not just from the time of your first purchase.

If you remove your shares from the Plan, they come out on a ‘first-in, first-out’ basis, i.e. those held for the longest must come out first.

If you want to transfer the shares into your name, you can transfer them into the Aberdeen Share Account, into an ISA or you can opt to receive a share certificate.

It’s quick and easy to sell your shares online via the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal using the ‘Sell shares from the Partnership and Matching Shares Plan’ or ‘Real time Partnership and Matching Shares Plan sales’ links on the Plan Summary page.

There are commission and other costs payable when you sell the shares. Details are set out in the Sales Terms and Conditions which you must agree to before you complete the sale.

Any taxable sale proceeds are sent to you through the next available payroll. This allows any income tax and NICs to be deducted before the next proceeds are paid to you. Any non-taxable sale proceeds will be sent to you directly by the Plan administrator. In particular, the proceeds from the sale of dividends will sent directly to your bank account and any taxable amount is subject to annual self-assessment.

As payroll is run once a month, there will be a delay between you requesting the sale of your shares, and you receiving the next proceeds. The length of the delay will vary depending on when the instruction to sell shares is received and processed by the Plan administrator, and the next available payroll run. If you request a sale of your shares before the 10th day in any month, your net proceeds should typically be paid through the next payroll.

Your shares may be subject to Capital Gains Tax (‘CGT’) if you retain shares after removing them from the plan. Everybody has an annual CGT allowance (the ‘Annual Exempt Amount’), which means that you’re able to make a certain amount of capital gains each year before a liability to CGT arises. If you’ve any doubts about your tax liability you should seek independent financial advice.

If you leave Aberdeen, you cannot leave shares in the Plan. You will have the choice of having your shares sold or transferred to you.

If you leave due to death, disability, injury, redundancy, retirement or the sale of your employing company or business:

• You will not have to pay income tax or NICs.
• You will keep all of your Matching Shares.

If you leave for any other reason such as, but not limited to, resignation or end of a fixed-term contract:

• You will have to pay income tax and NICs on any Partnership Shares and Matching Shares you have held for less than five years.
• You will have to pay income tax on any Dividend shares you have held for less than three years.
• You will lose any Matching Shares you have held for less than three years.

Yes. If they are declared and paid to shareholders, all dividends on your shares will be used to buy further shares for you – known as Dividend Shares. Dividend Shares must normally remain within the Plan for a three-year holding period from the date of acquisition.

This will depend on the price of Aberdeen Group plc shares on the dividend Payment date, and the total number of shares you hold in the Plan on the dividend Record Date. Any cash dividend which is not used to buy Dividend Shares, because it is too small to buy a whole share, will be carried forward and retained within the Plan to be used to purchase Dividend Shares at the next dividend date. If you leave the Plan, any residual cash dividend will be sent directly to you by Equiniti.

No. This is because Aberdeen want to give employees a long-term interest in the future of the Company as owners of Aberdeen Group plc shares.

Neither Aberdeen Group plc nor EQ can advise you what you should do. If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you should contact an Independent Financial Adviser.

You will receive cash, shares or other securities for your shares in a similar way to other shareholders. More information will be given should this ever happen.

When you view your Partnership and Matching plan shares on the Aberdeen Share Plans Portal you will see a breakdown of your shares and they will show as either Locked-in, Conditional and/or Available.

Locked-in shares are shares that have not been held for the three-year holding period and so cannot be sold or transferred out of the Plan. Locked-in Matching shares may be subject to forfeiture if they have not been held for three years when the corresponding Partnership shares are removed from the plan.

Conditional shares are shares that can be sold or transferred out of the plan, but will be subject to Income Tax and NICs on their value.

Available shares are shares that can be sold or transferred out of the plan with no Income tax or NICs to pay.

Read the Tax Treatment section for information on what tax is payable on Partnership and Matching Plan shares.

The sale of shares is subject to the Company’s Personal Account Dealing Policy and the Listed Securities, Inside Information & Securities Dealing Policy.

SIP shares can be transferred into an ISA. This is subject to the ISA annual limits. Shares transferred to an ISA within 90 days from removal of the plan will not be subject to Capital Gains Tax.

Your shares in the Plan will not give you the right to attend and vote at shareholder meetings as they are in the Plan trustee’s name. The Plan trustee will vote on your behalf and you will be given the opportunity to instruct the Plan trustee how to vote in respect of your shareholding whenever there is a Company General Meeting.