UK theme park tickets and hotels seller Attraction Tickets, which trades AttractionTickets.com and DoSomethingDifferent.com, is to transition to an employee ownership trust (EOT) and give employees a share of £1 million in bonuses.
Attraction Tickets will hand ownership of the business to an EOT, which will oversee management for the long-term benefit of employees. Oliver Brendon, chief executive officer and founder, and his fellow shareholders have sold their shares, which the EOT will hold for employees’ benefit.
Under the new structure, the organisation’s 128 full-time employees will share in EOT bonuses worth over £1 million. Payouts are based on years of service, with the first £3,600 tax free under the EOT rules. The organisation’s average length of service is more than six years.
The EOT board will be chaired by Juliet Thorburn, global HR director at Scott Bader, while Brendon and the management team will continue to manage the organisation.
According to Attraction Tickets, transitioning to an employee ownership structure will enable it to grow and prosper organically while preserving its corporate culture, with all employees participating in its financial success.
Brendon said: “Today we have concluded a transaction that will reward the business’ most vital stakeholders, its employees. This ownership structure will not lead to a softer commercial approach. In fact, employees and management will be more focused than ever on business performance because they will benefit from our ongoing success.
“This is an important milestone and we are all excited about future growth. Above all, I sincerely hope that the legacy of this organisation is one of excellent service to our customers, enduring partnerships with our iconic suppliers and generating prosperity for all employees over the coming years and decades.”
