Soft services provider Churchill Group is funding the acquisition of employee shares with debt capital following its conversion into an Employee-owned Trust (EoT) in 2023.
A sustainability-linked loan (SLL) obtained through H.I.G.
Capital offers a variable interest rate that will be determined by whether the company maintains KPIs that have been agreed in advance with the lender.
The KPIs have been set until the end of the financial year 27/28, and include goals around renewable energy use, employee training, external accreditation and voluntary disclosures.
The KPIs will be reviewed every year and can be reforecast if Churchill Group is ahead of schedule.
For example, if Churchill Group exceeds its target for renewable energy use, the target can be raised for future years to incentivise the company to keep improving.
Churchill Group has recently partnered with Social Value Portal to better measure, report on and amplify its social value.
By the next SLL review and with that foundation in place, it aims to add a social value KPI.
Our core values are to always do right, always seek better and always put people first.
The group is the second largest EoT in the UK with around 10,000 employee owners, and August marked one year since it became an EoT.
Further, it reports an increase in employee retention since becoming an EoT and launching a re-designed benefits package.
The number of colleagues whose outstanding contribution to the business and local communities has been recognised through its Shining Stars programme has also increased by 20 per cent with 150 new clients also awarding contracts during the last 12 months.
James Bradley, Churchill Group CEO, says: “Our core values are to always do right, always seek better and always put people first.
That’s why we become an EoT and that’s why we have chosen to take a sustainability-linked loan.
We of course want to operate in the most sustainable way possible, and this is a way of putting our money where our mouth is.
The KPIs measure our ambitious sustainability targets, and the accreditations ensure that there is external verification of our efforts.”
