ESOP Industry News

  • The ESOP Association and the Employee Ownership Foundation Release Results of the 2010 ESOP Company Survey
    August 11,2010
    Abstract: The ESOP Association and the Employee Ownership Foundation released today the results of a survey conducted among the Association's 1,400 corporate members in the first quarter of 2010 which confirms positive benchmarks for ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies. The company survey is conducted every five years and was last completed in 2005. Prior to 2005, the survey was completed in 2000. The eye-opening statistics of the 2010 survey are the increase in age of the ESOP and account balances. In 2010, the average age of the ESOP was reported to be 15 years as opposed to prior years where the ESOPs reporting where much younger. In addition, the average account balance has risen dramatically to $195,222.65; a much higher figure which correlates with the age of ESOPs participating in this year's survey.
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  • Ross Group Inc Rewards Employees With Stock Ownership Plan
    Abstract: Ross Group Inc of Dayton, Ohio announced that the company has formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and has joined the growing list of companies whose employees are stockholders. "When the transaction is completed," said Mr. Mark Ross, President and CEO, "the employees of Ross Group Inc will own just under 25 percent of the Company." Mr. Ross said the biggest problem was finding someone to help them set up the ESOP. They turned to Menke & Associates, Inc., a San Francisco-based firm specializing in Employee Stock Ownership Plans
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  • Clif Bar Announces ESOP Program
    June 30, 2010
    Abstract: ClifBar & Company announced the selling of family owned common stock to its employees through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Employees through the ESOP own 20% of the company, while husband and wife owners Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford retain the remaining 80%.
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  • PRESS RELEASE - Technomics, Inc. Benefits Employees with Stock Ownership Plan FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Technomics, Inc. Benefits Employees with Stock Ownership Plan
    Abstract: Arlington, VA - January 26, 2010 Rick Collins, President and CEO of Technomics, proudly informed employees on January 26, 2010 that the Company formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and, in doing so, has joined the growing list of companies whose employees are stakeholders. "The Plan has several objectives," Mr. Collins indicated. "First, to provide ownership of the company to those that build the company; second, to provide a significant retirement benefit and a reason to want to make the company more successful; third, to provide a tool to motivate, retain and attract employees; and finally, to create a market for stock held by original owners without a sale to outside interests. The plan should result in increased employee incentives and provide them with long-term retirement benefits. We also hope the ESOP will encourage employees to create opportunities for the Company, including but not limited to ways to improve quality and productivity."
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  • RESILIENCE AND RETIREMENT SECURITY: Performance of S-ESOP Firms in the Recession
    Abstract: A study of a cross-section of Subchapter S firms with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan shows that S-ESOP companies performed better in 2008 compared to non-S-ESOP firms along a number of dimensions, including job creation, revenue growth, and providing for workers' retirement security. The S-ESOPs paid their workers higher wages on average than other firms in the same industries, contributed more to their workers' retirement security, and—crucially in a year of recession—hired workers when the overall U.S. economy was pitched downward and non-S-ESOP employers were cutting jobs.
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  • ESOP: Employee Ownership of Companies on the rise, by Nancy Humphrey
    Abstract: The ESOP – Employee Stock Ownership Plan – is, slowly, on the rise. These worker-owned businesses are more productive and could benefit the American economy.
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  • ESOPs on Rise Among Small Businesses, by Karen Klein
    Abstract: Bob Moore gathered three employee shifts together last month for pizza parties to celebrate his 81st birthday. But Moore, the founder and president of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods in Portland, Ore., also had a surprise announcement: He was giving his 200 employees the company he founded in 1978.
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  • New Study Documents ESOP Account Balances
    Abstract: The NCEO has just completed an analysis of Form 5500 retirement plan filings filed by ESOP companies. The Form 5500 data are prone to considerable reporting and transcription error and should be used with caution, but many of the results described below are in accord with prior research, with our experience, and with best estimates from practitioners in the field. Among the companies studied, the average value of plan assets per participant is approximately $46,000...
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