Your guide to investor perks

Huge discounts on Channel ferry crossings, cut-price house insurance, big reductions on clothes, drinks and furnishings - these are just some of the perks available to holders of a range of company shares.

Hargreaves Lansdown, a firm of stockbrokers, has produced a new guide to the many perks available, which Independent on Sunday readers can obtain at a discount while helping two charities at the same time.

Peter Hargreaves, the company chairman, said checking shareholder perks when deciding which stocks to purchase was a sensible move. "You get a double whammy. The shares may go up in value and you get a dividend on the share as usual. As well as that there's discount on a product."

Among the discounts, P&O offers cut-price cross-Channel fares, while Whitbread gives £45 against drinks bills of £300.

General Accident offers shareholders and their immediate families a discount on personal insurance policies and certain life policies.

Courts, the furniture firm, gives 10 per cent off purchases, whilst holders of 1,000 shares in Barratt, the builder, can enjoy discounts of £500 for every £25,000 spent on a Barratt home.

Austin Reed, Burton Group, Coats Viyella, Sears and other clothes stores all do deals for shareholders, while holders of more than 1,000 Sketchley shares can have dry-cleaning at a 25 per cent discount.

The 1995 edition of Attractive Perks for UK Shareholders costs £3 but is available for £1 to Independent on Sunday readers. Hargreaves Lansdown has pledged that all the money received will be donated to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Cancer Research Campaign.

q For a copy of `Attractive Perks for UK Shareholders', write, enclosing £1, to Independent on Sunday Shareholders' Perks Offer, Hargreaves Lansdown, Embassy House, Bristol BS8 1SB.