Tameside uniform manufacturer becomes employee owned

A company which designs and manufactures uniforms for staff working in sectors from hospitality and leisure to healthcare and facilities management has become employee-owned.

Tibard Group, which was set up in 1979 by John and Sue Shonfeld in a spare room at their home, has 70 staff and is based in Dukinfield, Tameside.

The Shonfeld family and Tibard’s senior management team have sold their shares to the newly-created Tibard EOT Ltd.

In its last published accounts for the financial year to the end of January 2024 the business made pre-tax profits of £732k on turnover of £12.9m, a reduction from the previous year which the leadership team said they were addressing.

Tibard completed a sale of their laundry division last year.

Managing director, Ian Mitchell, finance director, Denise Shacklady and operations director, Andy Shackleton, will continue to lead the business.

Mark Heppell at JMW Solicitors provided legal advice. Paul Johnson and Hollie Walsh at law firm Ward Hadaway advised the employee ownership trust. Financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed.

Financial advisers on the deal included Ben Bradley at Hurst Corporate Finance and Liz Gallagher, Sarah Haley and Jennifer Escott in the tax team.

Dave Wilson, an experienced business adviser who is on the board of numerous employee ownership trusts, has joined the Tibard EOT board as an independent trustee.

Ian Mitchell said: “We had several approaches and offers from trade and private equity buyers but, having looked at the various options, we felt that employee ownership would be best for the business and offer the brightest future for our team. These were key considerations for all of the shareholders as succession planning was being discussed.”