Tag: page\park

Learn more at our FREE event

We’re running a series of FREE events this Autumn on employee ownership for interested businesses.  Please find below details for our forthcoming event.

To book your place at any of our events, register online at www.scottish-enterprise.com/cds-events or call 0300 013 3385.

Sharing ownership: the employee stake

Date:                5 October 2016

Time:                9:30am to 1pm

Duration:          3 hours

Admission fee: Free

Venue:             Apex Waterloo Place Hotel, 23-27 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh EH1 3BH

Eligibility:         Open to all Scottish businesses and professional advisers with an                                   interest in employee ownership.

This event explores how to assess and improve employee engagement, and how shares can be used to reinforce and reward employee commitment and contribution.

Engaged employees make for a happier, more productive workforce.  Evidence demonstrates that company performance improves when employees have a stake in the firm.  Our workshop has been designed to help you improve employee engagement in your company.

Dean Hunter of Hunter Adams and Rodger Cairns of Shepherd & Wedderburn will lead a session on how to create the right scheme for your company and the pitfalls and success factors to consider.

What’s covered?

  • Ways to assess and improve employee engagement
  • How shares can be used to reinforce and reward your employees efforts

Speakers

Lirrie Craig, a member of Scottish Enterprise’s workplace innovation team, will explain the factors that enhance employee engagement within companies.

Dean Hunter, founder and managing director of Hunter Adams, will talk through why he divested 30% of his shareholding into the hands of employees.

Dean Hunter, founder and managing director of Hunter Adams

Dean Hunter, founder and managing director of Hunter Adams

 

Rodger Cairns, Scotland’s leading expert on share schemes, will explain the variety of options available and how to decide which scheme fits for you. Rodger will also talk about the importance of effective communication to the workforce when launching any kind of share plan.

Agenda

9.30am Registration and coffee
10am Welcome
10.15am Achieving employee engagement – Lirrie Craig, Scottish Enterprise
10.35am Giving employees a stake in the business – Dean Hunter, Hunter Adams
10.55am Shares as an engagement tool – Rodger Cairns, Shepherd & Wedderburn
11.30am Q&A
12pm Networking lunch
1pm Close

Register for this event

 

Employee ownership on agenda for professional advisers

Graeme Nuttall smlA recent CDS seminar saw professional advisers gather in Glasgow to hear from Graeme Nuttall OBE, author of the Nuttall Review of Employee Ownership.

Here, Graeme – partner of Fieldfisher – discusses the growing enthusiasm for the model, the important role played by CDS, new tax reliefs and Scotland’s success stories.

I was delighted to be invited to speak to an audience of professional advisers in Glasgow and was hugely impressed at the level of interest and enthusiasm that exists for employee-owned business structures.

There can be no doubt – the case for employee ownership has been made. A few years ago, a company owner looking to explore employee ownership would likely have been dissuaded from this path by their adviser. Now, advisers are much more likely to present employee ownership as a feasible succession option for their clients.

Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), under the leadership of Sarah Deas, must take some credit for this achievement. CDS has been instrumental in building the employee ownership community in Scotland, and engaging with professional advisers to help them recognise the role these individuals and firms play in the development of employee ownership.

Advisers will know about the tax advantaged share plans designed to increase individual share ownership amongst a firm’s employees. These have been around for almost 40 years. In the Nuttall Review, I wanted to give greater priority to the trust model of employee ownership.

This is a simple model and gives employees a collective ownership of the company. I was delighted that as a result of the findings of the Nuttall Review a new tax regime for “employee-ownership trusts” (EOTs) was introduced last year. Briefly, there are two main new tax exemptions:

  • From 6 April 2014 there is an exemption from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on gains on certain disposals of shares in a trading company (or in a holding company of a trading group) that provides an EOT with a controlling interest in that company; and
  • From 1 October 2014 there is an exemption from Income Tax (but not National Insurance contributions) of £3,600 per employee per tax year for certain bonus payments made to all employees of a company or group where an EOT has a controlling interest.

The CGT exemption has attracted attention to employee buy outs as a succession solution. Instead of a sale of shares being taxed typically, for owner managers, at an effective rate of 10% after entrepreneurs’ relief, there is an unlimited exemption from CGT.

The Income Tax exemption means there can also be a tax benefit for staff in this business model. In most cases dividends otherwise payable to the EOT as a majority shareholder are waived by its trustee and are paid out instead as bonuses to all staff – tax free up to £3,600 per employee per tax year.

This is a key concept – instead of external shareholders receiving dividends and staff bonuses being paid simply at the discretion of a board of directors, the EOT model provides staff with an economic stake.

However, tax should not be the driver of employee ownership. It is important that attention is paid to the business case. Scotland has more than its fair share of success stories.

Page\Park Architects, recently appointed to restore the world-renowned Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Building, is a superb example of a trust owned model of ownership. Stewart Buchanan Gauges, a business where 85% of the workforce live within a five mile radius, represents the hybrid model of trust and direct employee share ownership. There are many more, and increasing all the time.

It’s always rewarding working through a transaction to completion. With an employee ownership transition, there is an additional bonus in that the relationship extends beyond the deal. The average life of a Standard & Poor’s listed company was apparently 60 years in 1958, around 30 years in the 1970s and was down to 15 years by 2014. Obviously businesses have to evolve and markets change but I like the idea that companies I help convert to employee ownership many years ago are still in existence in contrast to their competitors.

It was a real pleasure visiting Glasgow, especially speaking to so many advisers already convinced of the benefits of employee ownership. We do need more champions, and with advisers onside I trust we’ll see even more employee buyouts in Scotland over the next few years.

To read the speech Graeme gave during his presentation at Ernst & Young Glasgow, click here.

Memorable year for co-operative working

Sarah Deas resized2014 has been a busy year for Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), with interest in co-operative working higher than ever.

Here, CDS chief executive Sarah Deas reflects on the year and looks ahead to what 2015 may bring.

As we hurtle towards the end of 2014, it is a natural time to look back on the past 12 months. Last December, I remember fondly writing how the eyes of the world would be on Scotland throughout the year – and that certainly proved to be the case!

One shining moment was the XX Commonwealth Games, held in the always-friendly city of Glasgow. I was proud to serve as a Host City Volunteer at this spectacular event which will live long in the memory as an example of what can be achieved when we work together. CDS was delighted to contribute to Glasgow City Council’s (GCC) business event held during the Games. In fact, one of the highlights of the year was seeing GCC and its counterpart in the capital progress their commitment to be Co-operative Councils.Sarah Deas

This is a significant endorsement of co-operative working, which CDS is supporting through the provision of specialist advice. Co-operative working is now recognised as a means of achieving competitive advantage by businesses in a wide range of sectors and there is also growing interest in employee ownership – specifically as a succession solution – helped by the new tax incentives.

To tap further into that growing interest, we held five ‘successful succession’ events during the year. Kindly hosted by employee-owned companies – Aquascot, Galloway & MacLeod, Page\Park, Stewart Buchanan Gauges and Scott & Fyfe – these sessions gave those interested in the ownership model the opportunity to see how it works in practice.

We also engaged with Scotland’s professional advisers through our expert briefing sessions, tackling subjects including funding the employee buyout and employee share ownership.

David Narro Assoc 09

David Narro Associates celebrated becoming employee owned in August.

CDS helped a wide range of businesses across the year, including Fitwise and David Narro Associates, both of which made the transition to employee ownership. Scotland has a host of new employee owners, and hopefully they will find the newly-formed EOA Network Scotland useful – one to watch in 2015.

I was also grateful for the opportunity to visit Quebec for the International Summit of Cooperatives, a truly insightful conference. We heard from the Mondragon Corporation, often seen as an example of best practice when it comes to co-operative working. It is worth noting that the Basque region, where Mondragon is headquartered, is now looking to learn from the UK. Just last month, I welcomed a delegation from the Gipuzkoa province who visited some of our well-established employee-owned companies.

Finally, we once again offered companies in Scotland the chance to win £5,000 in cash and £5,000 in support to make their collaborative ideas a reality. The standard of entries to the Collaboration Prize this year was high, and all of us at CDS are excited to see who will follow in the footsteps of past winners the Scottish Mountain Bike Consortium and The Wee Agency.

In 2015 we anticipate interest in co-operative working to continue to grow as the benefits for staff, business and the economy are further demonstrated. While awareness is most definitely increasing, our job is to keep that momentum going. The growing desire for fairer, more inclusive approaches to working is an opportunity to further underline the virtues of the models – and we will continue to shout about it.

The year began with Kim Lowe, a managing director at John Lewis, calling for more businesses to consider a co-operative approach. I think it is clear that many have done just that, but more can and will be done in 2015.

2014 has been a memorable year in many ways, and I wish you all a happy, healthy and successfully prosperous 2015.

Page\Park enjoys successful first year of employee ownership

Page Park Architects 07Just over a year ago, Glasgow-based architecture firm Page\Park took the exciting step of becoming an employee-owned company.

Since then they have gone on to enjoy a successful 2014. In addition to increasing their workforce, the company last month won a GIA Design Award for its work in the revamp of the city’s Kelvingrove Bandstand.

They were also Highly Commended by the Philip Baxendale Awards as an Employee Ownership Rising Star.

As they look forward to building on their success the New Year, watch our video to find out how they addressed their ownership succession issues by adopting employee ownership.

Scottish success stories at employee ownership conference

????????????The Employee Ownership Association held its annual conference in Nottingham last month, with over 500 delegates attending.

Here, CDS specialist adviser Glen Dott takes a look back at the event and recounts some of the highlights.

This year CDS took seven clients to the Employee Ownership Association Conference. No sightings of Robin Hood – or even a forest – but it was a great learning experience for those considering employee ownership. Who better to ask than those who have ‘been there done that’? With over 500 delegates in attendance there were plenty of ‘doers’ and our contingent had a number of networking possibilities.

On the Monday evening we attended the Philip Baxendale Awards, where ‘the best employee-owned organisations are recognised in a tremendous celebration of excellence’. From a Scottish perspective, Page\Park Architects was Highly Commended as an Employee Ownership Rising Star while Fred Bowden Snr, chairman of Tullis Russell was awarded the The Philip Baxendale Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to employee ownership.

Employee Ownership AssociationIain Hasdell, chief executive of the EOA, welcomed us to the conference and illustrated how far employee ownership has come in a relatively short time. The icing on the cake for ‘Team EO’ in 2014 has been the tax breaks afforded to owners selling into Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) and the tax-free bonuses now payable to employees of EOT-controlled businesses. In Scotland we are already seeing the fruits of this legislation with EOTs in operation at Mike Stoane Lighting and David Narro Associates and more deals in the pipeline.

Two strands of sessions followed for ‘newbies’ and those already in employee ownership.  In between, we took the opportunity to link up our guests with relevant advisers and like-minded businesses, before keynote speaker Mike Thompson of Childbase explained why his company is moving to a Trust-only model. Surprisingly, external investors currently share most of the profits but a deal has been struck where an employee trust will buy out external investors and also the founding family. The primary advantage will be that future profits will be shared exclusively by employee owners via the recently introduced tax-free bonus.

The conference came to an end with John Lupton of 150-year old Tayport firm Scott & Fyfe telling us of their remarkable transition from family-owned jute business to a modern, outward looking, innovation led employee-owned industrial textile manufacturer.

This story illustrates that Scotland has much to be proud of and we certainly lead the UK charge in adoption of the EO model. We have every reason to believe our clients will join the employee ownership fold and we aim to bring an even bigger contingent next year.

A route for successful business and business success

EO_logo_2014-01Today, July 4, is Employee Ownership Day – an opportunity  for companies that have chosen this model to celebrate their success and spread the word about its benefits.

Co-operative Development Scotland’s chief executive, Sarah Deas, tells us why it is worth celebrating – and why business owners looking for a succession strategy or even a different way of working should take notice.

It may only be in its second year, but already Employee Ownership Day has become a key date in the calendars of employee-owned businesses across the whole of the UK.

There is good reason for this. Employee-owned businesses have something to celebrate; many  have seen real, tangible benefits from the model. Staff work closer together, there is a genuine feeling of a common goal and productivity increases.

Today, Page\Park, one of Scotland’s newest employee owned companies, will host our EO Day celebrations,  A well-known architectural practice, Page\Park is another great example of how the model not only offers a sound succession option but also is an ideal model for professional practices.

Founders David Page and Brian Park have no immediate plans to leave, but they wanted to ensure that the company’s long-term future was safeguarded – and employee ownership was the best option for them. This was no knee-jerk decision either.

The firm was recently named the UK Employer of the Year in theArchitectural Journal Awards. So its transition is yet another example of how Employee Ownership isn’t just a successful route for business, but it’s a route for successful business.

There are other EO Day events taking place across Scotland today – all highlighting the value the model plays not only to individual businesses, but also to Scotland’s economy.

We’ll be tweeting live from the Page\Park event on @cdscotland. Do join us and  share your own employee ownership success stories.

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