An offer of free additional shares to existing shareholders. A company may decide to distribute further shares as an alternative to increasing the dividend payout.
Also known as a "scrip issue" or "capitalization issue".
Issue of Bonus Share
A bonus share is a free share of stock given to current shareholders in a company, based upon the number of shares that the shareholder already owns. While the issue of bonus shares increases the total number of shares issued and owned, it does not increase the value of the company. Although the total number of issued shares increases, the ratio of number of shares held by each shareholder remains constant. An issue of bonus shares is referred to as a bonus issue. Depending upon the constitutional documents of the company, only certain classes of shares may be entitled to bonus issues, or may be entitled to bonus issues in preference to other classes.
A bonus issue (or scrip issue) is a stock split in which a company issues new shares without charge in order to bring its issued capital in line with its employed capital (the increased capital available to the company after profits). This usually happens after a company has made profits, thus increasing its employed capital. Therefore, a bonus issue can be seen as an alternative to dividends. No new funds are raised with a bonus issue.
Unlike a rights issue , a bonus issue does not risk diluting your investment. Although the earnings per share of the stock will drop in proportion to the new issue, this is compensated by the fact that you will own more shares. Therefore the value of your investment should remain the same although the price will adjust accordingly. The whole idea behind the issue of Bonus shares is to bring the Nominal Share Capital into line with the true excess of assets over liabilities.
Bonus shares are issued by cashing in on the free reserves of the company. The assets of a company also consist of cash reserves. A company builds up its
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