Dream realised after Sutcliffe Play staff buyout

Company chairman Robin Sutcliffe has passed over ownership of Sutcliffe Play to the workforce in the culmination of a long-held ambition.

Mr Sutcliffe said: "Employee ownership has been a dream for almost 50 years. From the day I joined the family business my ultimate aim was to one day hand the reins of our business to its employees.

"In my experience employee ownership motivates and provides a level of commitment that is unusual in privately owned companies.

"It will give Sutcliffe Play an intellectual advantage over our competitors and a unique strength within the marketplace as employee owned businesses are almost always at the top end of their market and innovation.

"It gives us the opportunity to take risks, something which we already fully advocate at Sutcliffe Play."

Specialist funders Baxi Partnership, Co-operative and Community Finance, Barclays and The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust supported the buyout.

The UK Employee Ownership Index shows that employee-owned companies continue to outperform the FTSE All-Share.

In the third quarter of 2009, employee-owned companies' share prices were up 27.6 per cent, performing better than the FTSE All Share Companies' share prices which were up 21.3 per cent over the quarter.

Viv Jebson, managing director of Sutcliffe Play, said: "At a time when the UK manufacturing industry has suffered we have continually performed above target and we are looking forward to continued growth in the knowledge that the future of the company is in our own hands.

"The government has taken the lead in funding more places for children to play safely through its wide ranging children's plan and we in turn have accelerated our growth.

"We now employ 90 people from our head office in an old mining village in Upton and we're in an excellent position to continue this growth to the benefit of the company, the employees and the local community.

"Employee ownership will make us more committed to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and enables employees to share in the success and wealth of the business."