Macarthur Coal’s Shares for Schools Program has been operating since 2002. The program provides financial assistance to public and private high schools in Queensland as well as the opportunity for high school students to gain insight into and understanding of the business of a publicly listed company.
In September, a mixture of six state and private high schools from across Queensland, are invited to participate in the program. Each new school receives a parcel of shares in Macarthur Coal. For the first three years of the program, schools received shares to the value of $2,000 however, in 2005 this was increased to $5,000. The shares are held in trust for two years with dividends reinvested on behalf of the schools. Schools are encouraged to track the performance of the company from the perspective of real shareholders.
After the two years, schools are given the choice of retaining their shares or having the shares sold with the proceeds given to the schools’ parents and citizens associations. To date, four groups have matured: 27 schools have opted to retain their shares and two schools requested that their shares be sold. One school will use their shares as a basis for an annual student business award, to be named the Macarthur Coal Award, with all dividends going to provide a financial prize to the winning student.
Historically, a teacher and a student representative from each school are invited to attend the company’s Annual General Meeting. However, in order to optimise the participants’ time with the Board and senior management and to gain the greatest benefit from the program, in 2008, the participants were invited to meet the Board members in October. The participants were able to interact with the Board and senior management one-on-one and were also given more detailed information about Macarthur Coal and its place as a listed public company in the Australian and world business community.
Each of the attending students was then invited to submit a report on matters concerning aspects of the business of a publicly listed company in order to be eligible for the Macarthur Coal Award. The student who submits the best report receives the Macarthur Coal Award which consists of a $5,000 scholarship towards university fees for the student and an additional $5,000 worth of Macarthur Coal shares for their school.
In 2008-2009, the students were asked to find certain information in the company’s annual report, define corporate governance and write about two of the ASX principles for good corporate governance, explain why listing on the ASX is beneficial to companies, and investigate and write about corporate social responsibility.
Macarthur Coal is proud of the positive feedback received from the students and teachers involved in the program.
Group 1
2002
Group 2
2003
Group 3
2004
Group 4
2005
Group 5
2006
Group 6
2007
Group 7
2008
Last updated 22 September 2009