Sharing the success of STS Investment Holdings

STS Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Wates announced the launch of the STS Investment Holdings Employee Trust in 2022. This initiative aims to share the financial benefits of the group’s growth and success with qualifying employees.

The Trust Deed has now officially been registered, the Letters of Authority issued and elected trustees appointed to act on the trust’s behalf. The next steps are the opening of the trust’s bank account, after which it will proceed to acquire 10 000 ordinary shares in the founder (STS Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd) before the end of February 2023.

The employee trust:

• is exclusive to employees of the STS group of companies, including the Bright Light Group. Employees who have served for at least five years in the group and have a clean disciplinary record automatically become beneficiaries of the trust;
• enables employees to participate in the distribution of dividends (the financial benefits yielded by the collective financial success of each of the subsidiaries within the group);
• is funded through loan and/or shareholder vendor funding. Employees do not need to buy shares by paying capital upfront. This allows all employees to participate and benefit from the initiative; and
• is managed by elected trustees according to the Trust Deed on behalf of the beneficiaries (the eligible staff).

The establishment of the trust means that employees will become fellow shareholders in the company. In the true spirit of community and ubuntu, all will share in the value produced by the performance of any of the subsidiaries within the group.

CEO, Johnny Wates described this as “a massive step forward towards what we set out to do when starting the company. Our philosophy as a business has always been that all our staff, clients, partners, and shareholders form part of the STS family. As part of our values and ethos, we aim to share our company’s success with all its stakeholders”.

It is not many companies that care for their employees this much, but the employee trust is just another example of how the STS Group truly puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to living the community value.