Tips, News and Insights from the Nº1 Equity Management Platform in Europe

We have big news! Capdesk is partnering with payment experts Shieldpay, to make digital option exercises possible! Upon termination of employment, your employees can choose if and how many of their vested options they would like to exercise through Capdesk. Shieldpay will ensure the transaction is safe for both you and your employee, by retaining the transfer money in an escrow account until the transaction process is completed and fully verified on Capdesk.

If you're one of the many companies who grant options to employees over issued shares, we have good news for you. You can now do so on Capdesk, with just a few clicks. It just got easier than ever to issue and monitor your grants!

So you just had to cancel some shares you previously issued - what's the next step? Well, you'll have to file a form known as 'SH06' to Companies House. Not sure what an SH06 is? Stay calm, we're here with some expert advice. Familiar with the form, but tired of all the manual work of filing to Companies House? We'll also tell you about how Capdesk makes filing your SH06 a whole lot faster. We're just natural problem solvers! 

Not sure how to file your CS01 at Companies House? Or just tired of spending too much time on filing your annual confirmation statements? Either way, we've got you covered. Here's some confirmation statement guidance and a bit about how Capdesk makes filing it to Companies House a lot, lot faster! 

We're thrilled to announce that we just raised £1.5 million from London-based VC fund Fuel Ventures and angels to digitise and provide liquidity to the billions of pounds’ worth of employee shares in unlisted European companies. We'd like to thank all of you who have supported us this far, and share with you what our goals are for these exciting next few months for Capdesk. 

If you're reading this, you've probably just put a share split or merge (aka consolidation or subdivision) behind you. Amazing!

Now all you need to do is let Companies House know, by filling out an SH02 form. This would normally take some time, to double check you got all the numbers down right. But with Capdesk, you actually don't need to worry about it: we autofill the form for you every time you make a share adjustment! Here's how. 

Remember the old, cumbersome days of manually trying to do share splits or merges on that usual spreadsheet? The long hours spent sorting out the adjustment of ratios for shares, options, convertible notes, and all sorts of equity - for each of your different share classes! Not to mention the new share certificates you had to issue, or updating your shareholder register, or filling out SH02s for Companies House for that matter.

Well you guessed right, all of this can now be done on Capdesk with a couple of clicks, and only takes a couple of minutes. Thank God for the digital age. 

In the private business world, the reasons for giving equity to employees are more than thoroughly discussed among founders, investors, and managers alike. But how often do you get to hear your employees’ thoughts on those grants you issued them? Are you making the most out of your option pool to incentivise staff, or are you just giving away equity with little or no impact?

We caught up with... let's call him Ben, a current option grant holder, to get an honest account of how an average grant is issued and communicated to employees, and what determines their effect on employee performance and loyalty.

Xtrac is a world-leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance transmission systems and driveline components, supplying virtually all the world's top motorsport teams. Its Employee Benefit Trust, established in 1997 continues to impress today. After winning the ESOP Centre's 2018 'Best All-Employee Share Scheme' award Xtrac's Finance Director, Stephen Lane, talks to Capdesk about why employee share plans matter, what can make or break them, and what the future of employee ownership holds. 

Share plans are one of the most important things a company can do to recruit, retain and motivate its staff. A properly managed share plan can align employees, managers and shareholders to work together to achieve the company’s financial and strategic goals. But – occasionally – they can also go wrong. So what should you think about when setting up a share plan? And what should you avoid to prevent problems?