Civil engineering business Fitzgerald Contractors has transferred ownership to an employee-ownership trust (EOT).
The organisation, which made a profit of more than £17.1 million in the year to March 2021, was a subsidiary of Thomas Vale Construction until it was acquired by managing director Nick Coley in 2013. This took place after its parent business was bought by construction engineering firm Bouygues UK.
The move will give all 120 employees a stake in the business, and Coley and the existing board of directors remain in their current roles.
According to the contractor, employee ownership will help to provide greater opportunities for staff to influence business decisions through the formation of an employee council, and for succession from within the internal management team over the coming years.
Coley explained that the move would help with retention during the current skills shortage and to attract new staff, while also acknowledging the “hard work and efforts” of all members of staff over many years by giving them an opportunity to share in its continuing success.
“We consider that an employee-ownership trust model is ideally suited to Fitzgerald’s philosophy and the thinking behind employee ownership has businesses exactly like ours in mind. This is a very exciting stage in the business’ history and safeguards Fitzgerald’s future for the benefit of all employees,” he said.
Fitzgerald is not the only business to opt for employee ownership recently, as legal search and recruitment consultancy SSQ became an employee-owned business to provide long-term stability for its employees.
