Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson has sold his remaining 23% stake in the business for £9.8 million, meaning that the vegetable grower and organic box scheme supplier is now 100% owned by its employees.
The payment will be made over the next five years and will take the total amount paid for the shares in the business he founded to £14 million since 2018. He told the Fresh Produce Journal that he would continue to be involved in the business as a trustee, non-executive director and spokesperson.
“Founders find negotiating this transition to their successors incredibly difficult and painful and most people make a bit of a mess of it,” he said. “Founders can hang around too long, and I don’t want to be that person who needs to be told to go. When the business became employee-owned in 2018, I wanted to ensure that the move was a successful one, and that the values of the business were safeguarded by its new owners and governance arrangements.
“Since then, it’s been a privilege to witness the business grow in ways we couldn’t have predicted, all while remaining committed to its founding purpose: to balance the needs of customers, suppliers, the environment, and wider society, and provide fair and rewarding employment to our staff.” Mr Singh-Watson stressed that he would not avoid paying tax on the money earnt from selling his shares.
According to Riverford’s website: ‘The rejection of outside investors and choice of EO to secure its succession continues Riverford’s challenging stance on business norms. EO is a gathering movement, seeing growth of around 60% since 2010. Done well, it has demonstrable benefits for staff and business, including higher productivity, higher morale, and less debt… Riverford is unusual in handing over 100% of shares to staff. Many companies who talk about employee ownership are in fact only ceding a low percentage of shares.’
Earlier this year the company reported a fall in sales and profits following a tough year for all vegetable growers, but the group now delivers 65,000 boxes a week compared with 50,000 when it made the first move to employee ownership.