Building materials distributer Lords Group has announced it will hand out 2,105 shares to each one of its 485 employees following its stock market listing earlier this year.
The specialist building, plumbing, heating and DIY goods distributing group, which listed on London’s AIM market in July at 95 pence per share after being valued at £150 million and raised £52 million at its initial public offering (IPO), will offer shares to all staff who were employed at the business six months before the float.
According to the firm, the 1,020,925 shares will be put in a trust on behalf of the employees, who are required to stay in their roles and hold the stock for at least three years. It has applied for the shares to be admitted to trading on AIM at 8am on 6 October, with shares having risen by more than 30% since July to be currently trading at 137.5p.
Lords CEO Shanker Patel explained that the share incentive plan was announced at the IPO in recognition of employee efforts and the importance of ensuring that all employees are “well motivated and identify closely” with the success of the group.
“We are a people business and the future success of the group relies on their continued hard work and commitment,” he said.
Additionally, the organisation announced this week it had swung to a profit of £4.5 million in the first half of its current financial year from a loss of £300,000 in the first half of 2020, while revenue increased from £124 million to £179 million.
Patel and his team plan to almost double its turnover to £500 million by 2024 from the £288 million it currently achieves, as well as increasing the net return on sales from edging towards 5% to the higher 6% to 7% seen by larger building supplies businesses such as Travis Perkins.
