Brewdog to give £100m worth of shares to staff

BREWDOG is to hand out shares worth around £120,000 to 750 staff over four years and launch the first ever profit sharing scheme for all bar workers as it looks to move on from a rift with disgruntled former employees.

Founder and chief executive James Watt has announced he will hand over nearly a fifth of his stake in the craft beer firm, representing 3.7 million shares or a 5% shareholding in BrewDog, to salaried employees to mark the group’s 15-year anniversary.

The near-£100m share award will be worth around £30,000 a year over four years to each eligible employee, based on the most recent fundraising, which valued BrewDog at around £1.8bn.

It will see its salaried staff – such as wholesale and manufacturing staff, as well as bar and kitchen managers – and so-called equity punk crowdfunding investors own 25%, and the majority of the firm, between them.

Mr Watt’s stake will reduce from 24.2% to 19.2% after awarding the shares, which will initially be held in an employee benefit trust.

In a first for the hospitality sector, the Scottish brewer is also launching a profit sharing scheme, allowing its 1,500 hourly-paid bar staff to share half of the earnings from each bar, unveiled as part of a wider growth plan laid out by the group.

BrewDog, which is headquartered in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, said that based on last year’s numbers, this would pay out an extra £3,000 to £5,000 to each bar worker’s salary.

It comes after the group was accused by former workers last summer of having a “culture of fear” within the business, with “toxic attitudes” towards junior staff.

Mr Watt – who is gearing the firm up for a stock market flotation, possibly as soon as next year – said: “Everything we’re doing today is about looking forward with a fantastic team.”