Decorative surface distributor designs a great deal for employees
A Halesowen-based worktop and decorative surface distributor, which has been owned by the same family for over four generations, is giving back to its employees by becoming an employee owned trust.
Blackheath Products at Fairfield Park holds over £7.5 million of worktops, decorative laminates and solid surfaces, which it distributes to kitchen centres, shop fitters and furniture manufacturers across the UK and Ireland.
Previously a private limited company, it will become an EOT during March.
Mark Murphy, managing director of Blackheath Products, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us at Blackheath Products. The Foster family has owned the business for over 90 years and their decision to transition the company to an employee owned trust is driven by a passion to keep jobs in the West Midlands and continue to grow as an independent business.
Our focus is now on our shared, exciting future, with everyone working creatively together to develop new products and services to support our customers and suppliers.”
Ian Foster, whose family owned Blackheath Products, said: “For over four generations, my family has worked with so many amazing colleagues. It is a privilege to be able to repay their contribution by offering all current employees the opportunity to make it their own business, within an Employee Owned Trust.”
EOTs were introduced by the UK Government in September 2014 to encourage more businesses to structure their businesses in a similar way to ‘the John Lewis model’, enabling wider employee ownership through the award of indirect holdings. It has become one of the fastest-growing business succession solutions in the UK, with the number of businesses set up this way more than doubling over the last three years. EOTs offer a range of benefits over traditional succession planning models; allowing employees to indirectly buy a company from its shareholders with using their own funds, enabling shareholders to sell their shares for full market value, and supporting directors to remain in situ post disposal should that be desired. Following an EOT, all employees gain an indirect stake in the company, with companies set up this way shown to benefit from greater employee engagement, more innovation and improved business performance.
