Some of the biggest foreign companies operating in the EU are considering scrapping their European employee share plans because of the cost of implementing new Brussels legislation.

Nearly half of overseas-listed groups say the EU prospectus directive has hurt their ability to offer employee share plans and one fifth are considering changing or dropping their schemes, according to a study by law firm Linklaters. The effect is so serious that it “calls into question the future of employee share ownership in the EU”, Linklaters claims.