Founders Gary and Catherine Grant and their family place the toy retailer in an Employee Ownership Trust, with staff set to benefit from profits and shape the business from next month
The Grant family are handing ownership of The Entertainer to its workers, transferring 100 per cent ownership of the business to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT).
The transfer of ownership to 1,900 The Entertainer’s employees will be complete in September, and is “the culmination of a long-term succession plan and will ensure the group remains independent with its employees as beneficiaries, while preserving both the family’s legacy and the family feel of the business”, the company said in a statement.
Gary Grant, who co-founded the business with his wife Catherine in 1981, and is Executive Chairman of the company’s parent TEAL Group Holdings, said the announcement was a “momentous day for the Grant family”.
“We’d like to send our sincere thanks to all our employees, who have worked hard to make The Entertainer what it is today. When we started the business, we had a vision of keeping an unwavering focus on children and community through creating memories, inspiring wonder and delivering outstanding service”
Staff will be rewarded through tax-free bonuses based on the amount of profit the business generates in the future, and will hold influence over the future direction of the group, sharing both the responsibility and the rewards of having a stake in the business’ success.
“Over the last 44 years, we have invested our working lives into this business. All our children are shareholders, and our two oldest sons joined to work alongside us 20 years ago – so it’s truly a family business,” Gary added.
Grant told the BBC that a cash sale would not have been “passing on the baton in the way in which the family would have wanted”.
“We’d like to send our sincere thanks to all our employees, who have worked hard to make The Entertainer what it is today. When we started the business, we had a vision of keeping an unwavering focus on children and community through creating memories, inspiring wonder and delivering outstanding service,” he said. “We couldn’t be more proud that this still remains at the heart of the business today, thanks to the daily enthusiasm of our staff – many of whom have worked for us for many years. Because of this, ensuring our employees have a place in the Group’s future is hugely important to us.”
Andrew Murphy OBE, who will head the company as Group Chief Executive Officer of TEAL Group Holdings, said: “What the Grant family have built is a true British success story – all the more impressive for having consistently championed the belief that business can be a force for good across the communities they serve.”
He added that the family had left the company in a position of solid financial health and with a strong growth strategy in place.
A newly created Colleague Advisory Board will help shape policies, share colleague sentiment and ideas, and will have a representative that will sit on the three-person Trust Board.
What do analysts say?
Reacting to the annoucnement, Christian Wilson, Employee Ownership & Business Succession partner at law firm Spencer West LLP said: “The Entertainer’s decision to transfer 100% ownership to its 1,900 employees is not just a heart-warming headline – it’s a live demonstration of why the employee ownership trust (EOT) model is gaining momentum in UK retail.
“Employees share directly in the rewards of their collective success – up to £3,600 a year tax-free under ITEPA 2003 – and, in turn, they have a vested interest in the company’s long-term health,” he added. “The business will remain closed on Sundays in line with the Grant family’s ethos, now safeguarded by the trust structure. This demonstrates how EOTs can protect cultural identity as well as commercial independence.”
