The Growth in Employee Ownership Trusts has exposed a need for organisations and professional advisers to locate suitable Trustees. Russam, J Gadd Associates and the Employee Ownership Association have teamed up to offer the employee ownership market a recruitment service called the Employee Ownership Trustee Appointment Service (EOTAS), that recruits Trustees for these organisations.

Kingsland Drinks Group including Kingsland Drinks and newly established Ten Locks, has made a move to being partially employee owned.

The move follows current director shareholders, Andy Sagar, Karen Wilson, Michael Forde and Mark Dixon, having managed the business for 17 years.  

The owners had agreed that the time was now right to “restructure the ownership model” while recognising any changes in the stewardship of the business would “need support and take time to transition”.

After reviewing all the potential options, the shareholders had concluded the best outcome was to sell a majority of the shareholding into an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) structure

Ian Hiscock, new chair of the Trust Board said: “I am thrilled to be joining the team at Kingsland Drinks Group as they embark on their employee ownership journey. Having spent my whole career working in and around the employee-owned (EO) businesses, I’m passionate about the benefits it can bring to a company and the people who make it a success: the employees.”