The next steps in your journey as a Kingfisher shareholder

Congratulations! You’ll soon receive full ownership of your Matching Shares as a participant of the 1+1 Sharing in Our Future Plan.

On 21 July 2022 the ‘Hold’ period, during which your Matching Shares and any associated Dividend Matching Shares have been locked, will come to an end. Here’s a summary of what you need to know about what happens next.

A quick recap: your 1+1 Plan journey so far

Before we delve into what happens on 21 July, here’s a quick summary of your 1+1 Plan journey so far.

You began your journey when you joined the plan in late 2020. You made contributions for six months, from January to June 2021.

In July 2021 we used your contributions to buy you your Purchased Shares. This is when you became a Kingfisher shareholder. We then matched this number with free Matching Shares.

For the past 12 months, your Matching Shares have been locked in what’s known as a ‘Hold’ period. During this period, any dividends paid have been used to purchase further shares for you; any money that couldn’t purchase a full share will remain in your account to be used in any future dividend awards until you sell your shares.

So what happens next?

On 21 July 2022 this ‘Hold’ period comes to an end, meaning all your shares will unlock and fully belong to you. At this point, you have three choices:

1. Keep your shares

If you want to hold on to your shares and continue your journey as a Kingfisher Shareholder, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll continue to enjoy all the benefits of being a shareholder, meaning you’ll:

• receive dividends (which will be reinvested into additional shares) whenever they are paid to shareholders; and
• still be eligible to vote at our Annual General Meetings.

You can keep an eye on how your shares are doing at any time, by logging into your 1+1 Plan account on EquatePlus. You’ll see dividends being added over time, and see your shares’ value at the current Kingfisher share price.

If you decide to keep hold of your shares now, you can choose to sell them at a later date.

2. Sell your shares

From 21 July 2022, you can sell some or all of your shares if you wish. If you decide to sell your shares, the value will depend on the share price at the time.

To see how much your shares could be worth at different share prices (before tax), see our handy calculator.

3. Transfer your shares

You can transfer your shares out of the 1+1 Plan to a different share custody account in your name if you wish. However, whilst you remain a Kingfisher employee there is no need for you to remove your shares from your 1+1 Plan account unless you want to.

What else is there to know?

As with any investment, there is always a risk attached to share ownership. This is because the share price can go down as well as up, meaning the value of your shares can rise or fall at any time. You should take this into account when choosing what to do with your 1+1 Plan shares.

If you’d like to understand more about the different things that can affect share prices, take a look at this article in our 1+1 News section. You can also check out the Kingfisher share price in the Investor section at kingfisher.com.

…and what about tax?

There are tax consequences of participating in the 1+1 Plan which vary according to your location and personal circumstances. You can view the Tax Guide for Ireland here. It is important that you read it because you may need to take action either at the point that full ownership of your Matching Shares (and any associated dividends) is transferred to you and/or at certain points in the future, for example if and when you sell your Kingfisher shares or when dividends are paid.

On 21 July, to comply with employer withholding requirements, Computershare will sell a fixed amount of your Matching Shares and Dividend Matching Shares to cover the taxes due through the next available payroll. Your personal tax rate might be more or less than this amount and if necessary, an adjustment will be made. In order to allow this to happen you won’t be able to trade your Matching Shares and any Dividend Matching Shares between 21 July and the time this process completes on 22 July.

If you feel that you need legal or tax advice you should seek your own personal advice from an appropriately qualified person.

What do I need to do next?

You don’t need to do anything if you want to hold onto your shares and continue to benefit from being a shareholder of Kingfisher plc, however it’s good to know the options available to you when your ‘Hold’ period comes to an end on 21 July. You can find more information to help you make any decision on our dedicated 2020 1+1 Plan page.

If you do decide that it is the right time to sell some or all of your shares then you can do this by logging onto the EquatePlus portal. Remember that you won’t be able to trade your Matching Shares and any Dividend Matching Shares for 24 hours from vesting on 21 July whilst the sell-to-cover process completes, at which point you will then be able free to place your trade. From the EquatePlus portal you can also view the help section for further guidance and also find out how to contact Computershare if you require support.

Whatever you decide to do next, as a Kingfisher colleague you’re subject to the Group Share Dealing Policy on the Kingfisher intranet. You can read our summary of your responsibilities under the Policy here.

If you want to brush up on what it means to be a Kingfisher shareholder, check out our news and updates. We’ve posted articles on many aspects of being a shareholder, from shares and share prices, to dividends and Annual General Meetings.

Thank you for joining us on this journey to becoming a Kingfisher shareholder, and taking the opportunity to share in our collective future. If you want to do it all over again, we’re launching our 2022 1+1 Plan later this year – keep an eye out for further communications!