Ownership model secures Mike Stoane Lighting

THE future of an Edinburgh-based business and its 45 employees has been secured thanks to the adoption of a new “ground-breaking” ownership model.

Mike Stoane Lighting is believed to be one of the first Scottish firms to set up an employee ownership trust (EOT).

It now has an employee on the board of directors, following the decision by its eponymous founder to step away from the day-to-day running of the firm.

EOTs, which were ushered in by April’s Finance Act, are specifically being touted as a means to help staff take over a business once an owner decides to retire or relinquish their duties.

Emily Alston, a director at Mike Stoane Lighting, said: “The formation of the trust put in place a new legal structure which has secured the long-term future of the business.”

Derek Hamill, head of corporate at Gilson Gray, the law firm which advised on the move, added: “As an incentive to allow the creation of EOTs, a transfer of shares into the trust qualifies for a full exemption from capital gains tax.”