Emsworth Yacht Harbour becomes employee-owned

Emsworth Yacht Harbour, a marina in Emsworth on the UK’s south coast, has sold a controlling stake to an Employee Ownership Trust.

This move is understood to make Emsworth Yacht Harbour the UK’s first employee-owned marina.

Emsworth Yacht Harbour (EYH) has been in operation since 1965, and was acquired by the Wakelin family in the 1990s. Alison Wakelin has been managing director since 2006. Since then, Emsworth Yacht Harbour has grown to offer boat berthing, handling, and storage together with a range of ancillary services, provided by tenant businesses.

An Employee Ownership Trust now holds 80 per cent of the company’s shares on behalf of its 12 employees, with members of the Wakelin family retaining the remaining 20 per cent. As part of the move, Tom Marfleet will become managing director and Alison Wakelin will move to a non-executive director role.

“As a family, we wanted to find a succession plan that would allow EYH to stay as an independent marina for the foreseeable future,” says Alison Wakelin. “Becoming an employee-owned business presented a perfect opportunity to safeguard the future of our community and allow us to continue to deliver a fantastic experience to our many loyal customers.

“Our business has been built on the foundations of our incredible employee team and it feels amazing to recognise and reward them all by making this move into employee ownership and being the first marina to do so.”

Tom Marfleet adds: “All employees are excited by this move to employee ownership and I am looking forward to leading our team as we embark on our employee ownership journey”.

Wakelin highlights that Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) are the fastest growing form of business ownership in the UK. Successive studies have shown that EOTs motivate employees to drive further growth, foster innovation and encourage entrepreneurial behaviours as they collectively have a stake in the long-term success of the company and stand to benefit from profits.

According to the Employee Ownership Association, the total number of employee-owned businesses in the UK is now over 1,500.

“We’re increasingly seeing businesses from across the industrial divide becoming employee-owned,” says James de le Vingne, CEO of the EOA. “Not every business can be the first of its kind to transition, but it’s remarkable seeing a business like Emsworth Yacht Harbour leading the way for marinas.

“I’m sure plenty of marinas across the country will sit up and take notice of this pioneering move by EYH.”

Emsworth Yacht Harbour’s move to employee ownership has been facilitated by a team of advisers from Blake Morgan LLP and Menzies LLP with Andrew Harrison of Co-ownership Solutions helping communicate with the employees and other stakeholders.