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EFES NEWSLETTER - JULY 2026
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The European Federation of Employee Share Ownership
(EFES) is the organisation representing employee ownership
in Europe.
Since 1998, its mission has been to promote the growth
of employee ownership across the European continent.
As it does every year, the EFES General Assembly met
on 23 June.
The Annual Report was discussed and adopted. It highlights
a major change taking place in employee ownership in
Europe.
Until now, large companies have been predominant in
European employee ownership. However, opportunities
are also opening up for employee ownership in SMEs.
This change goes hand in hand with a proliferation of
incentives and models for employee ownership.
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In
large companies, the primary motivation behind employee
share ownership is sharing the business, its ownership
and its profits (sharing the company).
In SMEs, the driving principle behind employee ownership
is different; it acts as a tool for business succession
and takes the form of selling the business to the employees
(selling the company).
Under the Employee Ownership Trust scheme, employees
become owners of their company usually in its entirety
(100%) without having to pay a penny out of their
own pockets. Our aim is to ensure that all European
countries can benefit from this.
EFES
Annual Report 2025
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News
from the disaster
in London
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Over
the past ten years, employee ownership in SMEs has seen
extraordinary growth in Great Britain. We were rapidly
moving towards a situation where one in ten SMEs would
be employee-owned. In most cases, employees become 100%
owners of their company. Without having to spend a single
penny of their own money. This success was due to the
introduction of the Employee Ownership Trust
(EOT) mechanism in 2014.
And
then... Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer
in the UK government decided to retax business transfers
to employees. Instead of a 100% tax exemption on capital
gains when transferring a company to employees, this
exemption has now been cut to 50%. The effect is dramatic.
Overnight, business transfers to employees in
Great Britain have been abruptly stopped.
There
is only one way to avert disaster. It is essential
to reinstate the 100% exemption on capital gains relating
to the sale of a company to employees.
The
Employee Ownership Association doesn't say so, but professionals
don't share the same reasons for remaining silent. Here's
what the experts at Price Bailey have to say.
More
info
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Press
review
A
selection of 24 remarkable articles in 8 countries in June
2026: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Czech Republic, Denmark,
France, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, USA.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mandatory employee
share ownership for mining companies: 5% of the capital must
go to Congolese employees.
Czechia: SpaceX's IPO made 4,400 employee shareholders
millionaires in millions of dollars, enough to make the American
startup lobby dream.
Denmark: The new incentives for employee share ownership
in SMEs come into effect on July 1st, now that the EU has
given its approval.
France: June is a celebration for employee share ownership
in Paris. New plans for Sanofi, Veolia, and LOrιal. Free
shares for everyone at Decathlon. Strong momentum for the
Amundi Observatory and virtually unbeatable returns for employee
shareholders. The possibility of shareholder foundations for
business succession.
Italy: Employee share ownership plan for Gruppo Aeb.
Poland: Kris Ludwiniak is the president of the Forum
for the Development of Employee Share Ownership.
UK: Still some business transmissions for EOTs.
USA: Writing 250 years of history of employee share
ownership in the United States.
The full press review is available
on:
https://www.efesonline.org/PRESS
REVIEW/2026/June.htm
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A
political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe
The
EFES needs more members. Download the EFES membership form
What's
new on the EFES website?
EFES NEWS
distribution: 200.000
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