ZERO! Williams & Co sold in management buyout

[wetdrip]

Really chuffed for you all Ray.

 

[REDSAW]

well done ray, our family did a simular thing about a dozen years ago with a business t/o around £28m. took 3i investment loan to help mbo and retained 51%.
hope you did what we did first before we payed the 'blc Rover' price!!..........................drop all the sales down first to get it cheaper.lol

bet your knackered? soldier on and get rid of that finance.....

 

[Riley]

In all seriousness Ray I couldn't be happier for you and your guys. Now if somebody could just explain the biscuits thing to me

 

[Gray0689]

Well done mate brilliant news a credit to your company

Have one on me

 

[Paulplumb]

Congratulations Ray & Co. Wishing you all the luck in the world 😛arty:

 

[turnpin]

Great result all round Ray and team ...best regards for a successful future Turnpin😛arty:

 

[Ray Stafford]

soldier on and get rid of that finance.....

That's the important part. In fairness, the bank have been absolutely brilliant, but we still want to be rid of the debt as soon as we can.

 

[Gray0689]

I'll lend you a £5 I'll even do interest free lol

 

[Gray0689]

Or open a place over here and I'll help you get rid of a small bit of them loans too

 

[Ray Stafford]

I'll lend you a £5 I'll even do interest free lol

Thanks alex, but where we're you last week when I needed you? 🙂

 

[Gray0689]

Sure you have a drink to toast it with lol
You could of sold it for that £5 lol

 

[Nostrum]

Well done Ray and team, here's to cheaper prices from here on in! 😛arty:

 

[julesverne]

Congratulations Ray,

It really shows how much faith you and your staff have in the business.

Onwards and upwards.

On a side note trust me to leave the facebook group a couple of days ago. I just couldnt stand the knob heads anymore. Whats the offer?

 

[PlumbBobBob]

fantastic news Ray, you have a great company there and a great workforce as well. i wish you all well in your fantastic adventure and i raise a glass to you all :8:

 

[Toxic Ted]

Well thats buggered it .....Dean in the Slough branch will want me to pay for the tea now that he is a shareholder and minimising anything given away for free......damn you Stafford........and damn you again.

Well done and congratulations to all at Williams.

 

[lame plumber]

soon be like John Lewis, a nicer place to shop than tescos, congrats and Mr W has a little pension to retire on now 🙂

 

[Ray Stafford]

On a side note trust me to leave the facebook group a couple of days ago. I just couldnt stand the knob heads anymore. Whats the offer?

Here's the offer thread Jules

 

[Ray Stafford]

I take it you'll be refurbishing you're East and west wing next year!

Ha flippin' ha. Not for so long as the bank manager has my gonads in his vault.

Well done and congratulations to all the team.

Thanks

Where the shares limited per employee or did you find s few really went for it?

We had some existing shareholder employees, and the ones that had been with us for years had really quite valuable stakes to roll over. For a lot of the guys its just a few hundred quid or a grand or two, but there are a small number of bigger hitters who have made serious (tens of thousands) investments.

 

[Ray Stafford]

How did the management & staff raise the £1.2 billion for the takeover:wink_smile:

We went round your gaff Markfxy, and took back the empties...

 

[Ray Stafford]

Now if somebody could just explain the biscuits thing to me

Its really easy. Deliveries on our own vehicles don't come with biccies. So you get deliveries (presumably from Nigel in Southampton, or possibly StevieD from Fareham). You get the pleasure of their witty banter and repartee, but have to make your own calorific arrangements.

When we started the ecommerce thing, we felt the loss of control over the selection of drivers, since we obviously don't control the carriers choice of driver. The last thing we wanted was a customer's primary impression of us being a miserable git of a driver, so we started including packets of jelly babies with orders. Not many people can resist smiling when given jelly babies. But jelly babies get boring after a while, so we ring the changes, and a big favourite is the biccies.

Unless you have transgressed against the unwritten code, obviously. Then you get blacklisted. 🙂