bonus issue

you will see a bonus issue described as a free issue, a capitalisation issue and a stock dividend. These are new share issued by a company to its existing shareholders, usually in a mathematical proportion to the number of shares already held. What the company is doing is turning part of its reserves it will have accumulated into issued capital. The shareholders do not pay for the new shares and appear to be no better off. However, in a 1 for 3 bonus issue for example, the shareholders receive one new share for every three existing shares they own. Hence, a shareholder owing 99 shares will receive 33 bonus shares in return. This will reduce the price of the shares by 25% (assuming a price of Lm1 per share, the amount of the new shares, 33, divided by the total amount of shares owned, 132), catering to the preference of shareholders to hold lower-priced shares whilst encouraging them to hope that the price will gradually climb to its former value, which will of course make them 25% better off (IW)

In other languages:

• ħruġ ta' bonus [MT] - ħruġ ta' bonus issibu msejjaħ ħruġ liberu, ħruġ kapitalizzat u dividend ta' stokks. Dawn huma ishma ġodda maħruġin minn kumpanija lill-azzjonisti tagħha, ġeneralment fi proporzjon matematika tan-numru ta' ishma li digà jkollhom. Dak li tkun qed tagħmel il-kumpanija hu li tkun qed taqleb parti mir-riżervi tagħha f'kapital maħruġ. L-azzjonisti ma' jħallsux għall-ishma ġodda u jidhru li ma jkunu qalgħu xejn. Iżda, ngħidu aħna, fi ħruġ ta' bonus ta' 1 għal 3 l-azzjonisti jirċievu sehem wieħed ġdid għal kull tliet ishma li digà jkollhom. Hekk, azzjonist li għandu 99 sehem jirċievi tagħhom 33 sehem bonus. Dan inaqqas il-prezz ta' l-ishma b'25% (jekk il-prezz ikun Lm1 kull sehem, l-ammont ta' l-ishma ġodda, 33, diviż bit-total ta' l-ishma li azzjonist digà għandu, 132) u hekk jissodisfa l-preferenza ta' l-azzjonisti li jkollhom ishma bi prezz aktar baxx waqt li jinkoraġġihom jittamaw li l-prezz jitla' gradatament għall-valur li kellu qabel, li naturalment, iħallilhom qligħ ta' 25% (IW)
• emissione di gratifica [IT]