for UK shares I am looking for a list of companies where I am told
number of shares needed to enjoy a concession or benefit. EG own 500
shares and get 30% off all published fares for a ferry company.
Looking particulary for list of best companies to own shares in with
regards to perks / concessions / benefits.
Must be listed on the FTSE or within UK

Dear lakesclaire-ga 

The BBC programme MoneyBox has recently produced a programme on this
and discussed the benefits and pitfalls. The latter included:
"It is the total return that counts. That is, all the cash flow plus
any capital loss or gain. In some cases, perks can greatly increase
your cash flow, so should not be dismissed as unimportant." They also
discussed some downsides.
Some shares were mentioned and these can be viewed at 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/programmes/moneybox/2125577.stm

http://www.hargreaveslansdown.co.uk/siteredesign/online_guides/shareholder_perks/howtobuy.asp
Has a extensive list of companies offering perks. Select a company
from the drop down box.
They also give this warning:
"It is important to remember that to be certain to qualify for
shareholder perks you should request that the stockbroker provides you
with a share certificate. If the shares are held in a nominee account
then it is safe to assume that it may not be possible for the perks to
be passed on to you."

http://www.sharediscount.co.uk/ Offer an advice service for a small
fee. Said to contain details of 400 companies offering perks. I
obviously have not viewed the contents of the site.

http://212.212.140.140/saving/stockmarket/share_perks/index.shtml also
provides a list of companies.

So does http://www.menshealth.co.uk/wealth/easy/perks.html

Fool.co.uk has a discussion board on share perks
http://boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?bid=50998
It also states that a list shareholder perks can be obtained free of
charge by calling 0800-694-6444. The guide has been prepared by
Millfield Group

http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/money/managing/articles/investing133.shtml
Gives some more advice: prices may fluctuate, a certain number of
shares may have to be held, or limited number of times you may use the
offer.

The view from most sites though is that the real rewards come with
company performance and long term prospects, not just the perks.

Please ask for clarification of any part of this research, or if the
links fail to work, before rating the answer.

Good luck with your investment.

answerfinder-ga

Search strategy
uk perks shares
://www.google.com/search?q=%22uk%22+perks++shares&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N

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Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 04 Nov 2002 12:59 PST

Sorry the paragraph should say: It also states that a list of
companies offering shareholder perks can be obtained free of
charge by calling 0800-694-6444. The guide has been prepared by
Millfield Group.

good answer in that it showed me where on the web to look. I still
need to do much of the research etc to decide what to buy.