Great to see our Corporate Patron, S&W Wholesale highlight the concept of Employee Ownership (EO) at a series of events across Northern Ireland.
Organised by DLD Fund & Chartered Accountants Ulster Society, the Ownership Succession events in Newry, Cookstown and Belfast sought to highlight EO as a concept that NI business owners should be considering as part of their future planning.
Anthony McVeigh, Deputy CEO & CFO of S&W Wholesale who are headquartered in Newry City, was one of the number of guest speakers at the three events.
In January 2023, S&W Wholesale became one of the largest known businesses in Northern Ireland to move to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) model of ownership.
This structure saw control of the 107-year-old business move from private ownership to a Trust model. The Trust’s Board ensures the business operates for the benefit of the employees.
Minister for the Economy, Conor Murphy MLA also attended the Belfast event and shared his views on the concept of Employee Ownership.
Guest speakers were leaders of businesses who have successfully made this transition, including Relinea, White Ink Architects and S&W Wholesale. Glen Dott from Scottish Enterprise and Andrew Harrison from Co-ownership Solutions also spoke about the benefits that the EO model offers.
EO can be a successful way of selling a business or can act as a partial exit strategy by owners. An Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) is typically set up, meaning employees acquire a stake in the business as a group.
The trust holds these funds and employees become more involved in decision making and the direction of the business. There are around 1,650 employee-owned companies in the UK, a figure which is growing by around 35% per year, particularly in Scotland.
Minister for the Economy, Conor Murphy MLA said:
“The ‘People Powered Growth Report’, which underpins today’s event, makes for inspiring reading. It highlights the contribution of the employee ownership model to driving productivity, to creating more good jobs and to investing in the skills of their workforce, all key objectives of my plan for the North’s economy.”
“My department is currently working to align its activities with my economic objectives. As part of this, we have set up a Social Enterprise Group made up of practitioners. This provides a forum to highlight ways in which we can build social enterprise, including models of employee ownership. To inform that work, my department is commissioning research on employee ownership.”
“At the moment, across the North, the number of employee ownership businesses is small. But I am hopeful that, by working with the social enterprise sector, building the evidence base and engaging at events such as this – we will support local workers and companies to better understand all options open to them.”
Event Organiser, Aidan O’Neill from the DLD Fund added:
“As someone who is passionate about the strength of retaining local business ownership and protecting the future of family-owned companies, I wanted to bring together people who are knowledgeable and experienced in EO to let the business community here learn more about it and consider if it might work for them.”
“People who are personally engaged with the future of a business will adapt, innovate and pivot to survive if things get tough. That ethos doesn’t always remain when a business is sold to an overseas owner. Benefits of EO have also been proven to include enhanced staff engagement, performance, loyalty and retention.”
“I appreciate that EO isn’t an option that would suit every business. However, there are so many companies that should be considering it as a viable solution, particularly within the manufacturing sector. Otherwise, we run a real risk that within the next decade, we will see some incredible, locally-owned businesses being sold to global owners.”
Invest NI also outlined their interest in supporting the model as a succession solution.
Jeremy Fitch, Executive Director at Invest NI commented:
“As a region made up of predominantly SMEs, a good many of which are family owned and operated, we are always looking for solutions that will help these businesses to scale and grow.”
“Employee Ownership is one such option and certainly something we would encourage companies to explore. This event has been very useful to hear from those that have taken this approach.”
To find out more on S&W Wholesale, please visit:
www.savageandwhitten.com