Newcastle-based data and test solutions provider Seriös Group has allocated 17.5 per cent of its shares to employees, giving them a valuable stake in the future success of the high-growth business, based in Hoults Yard, Newcastle and Glasgow.
The move to launch a share options scheme will see founders Lee Rorison and David Milnes effectively give equity exclusively to colleagues across three share classes as part of the new enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme.
Seriös Group, founded in 2020, is on an accelerated growth trajectory, and the scheme aims to give all of its people a stake in the business to reward loyalty, career progression and their contribution to the growth of the business.
Speaking about the move, Chief Executive, Lee Rorison said; “We’re on an aggressive growth curve at Seriös Group, having seen turnover grow by 77 per cent in the year ending 2022/23 to £2.5 million and with our sights on a £3.8million turnover target by the end of this year.
“We recognise our people are a huge part of helping us achieve the success we’re striving for, and we felt it made absolute sense to allow them to share in the value of the growth of the business.”
All Seriös Group employees are eligible for the scheme. In the initial round, 26 people have been given EMI share options, and Seriös Group will be running further rounds annually in line with its company year-end.
The scheme gives shares in the growth of the business and means that if there were to be a transaction involving a change of ownership at Seriös Group in the future, those holding EMI share options will receive a pay-out equating to the value of shares they have under the option scheme.
Since launching in 2020, Seriös Group has attracted a range of high-profile clients including Sage and De La Rue. Serving an international client base, it has seen strong growth in the facilities management sector, winning long-term data support contracts with integrated facilities management companies JLL, Integral and Premier Technical Services Group (PTSG). In addition, it also works with iamproperty Group and GSMA, amongst others.
This year Seriös Group launched its purpose-built data platform, Seriös One, which turns enterprise and IoT telemetry data into powerful insights, analytics, and dynamic solutions. The Seriös One platform helps businesses make data-driven decisions with an initial focus on energy efficiency and space utilisation to drive down costs. The platform is available as a subscription service or customer-hosted infrastructure as code.
Mr Rorison continues: “We are delighted to have launched the EMI Scheme, which also represents our ambition to be a leading employer in the UK, through our commitment to supporting career development at every level, generous salaries and benefits, and engaging tech work with tier one big corporate clients. Empowering our people is vital to our ongoing success and the EMI share options further underlines our commitment to them.”