Can employee ownership protect independent brewers?

Tim and Mark have decided to transfer ownership to an Employe Ownership Trust (EOT).

The trust owns the company and the profits are put back into the business where employees control how those profits are spent, rather than paying shareholders.

It also provides a 50% capital gains tax relief for share holders disposing of their shares into the trust.

And for employees it means they can receive tax-free cash bonuses each year. But it is also designed to allow employees to have the say in the future of the business, and a feeling that they have a bigger stake in it’s success.

Co-managing director of Abbeydale Brewery in Sheffield, Toby Grattidge, which became employee-owned in 2024, said more staff were staying on since the change.

“Fundamentally not much has changed at the business but how people approach work and their effort has improved.”

At Abbeydale they have a board which includes two elected employees who stay in the role for two years.

“People are more committed. It’s their money. From staff feedback we have since introduced free private healthcare and increased paternity leave. We are very open book,” he said.

Marya Besharov from the Said Business School at Oxford University said an EOT “doesn’t guarantee anything”

“But having a diversity of perspectives and having the people at the front lines of the organisation having a stake in the business are both very powerful ways of generating high performance.”