Edinburgh's Commsworld presses button on staff shares scheme: new appointments

Commsworld, the Edinburgh-headquartered communications network provider, has taken steps to increase its employee ownership of the business by launching a staff shares scheme.

The setting up of an enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme will give employees the right to acquire share options from a pool set aside by the company for workers.

Bosses hope that staff will grasp the opportunity to have their own stake in the business they work for.

The launch of the scheme comes as the firm reveals 12 appointments following its biggest ever recruitment drive, on the back of its continued growth in the UK over the past 12 months.

Commsworld chief executive Steve Langmead: 'When we were looking at our options for the future, we wanted our people to be able to benefit from our success.'

Chief executive Steve Langmead said: “When we were looking at our options for the future, we wanted our people to be able to benefit from our success. The EMI scheme was the ideal way forward for us, and we hope that all our staff will take advantage of it as the company goes from strength to strength.”

Among the string of new appointments, Dan Jackson joins the firm as business development director, with the aim of driving new business sales into the public sector market across England. He previously held senior sales roles at Redcentric, Intrinsic/Maintel, NG Bailey and Dimension Data.

Gavin Stewart has been appointed pre-sales consultant to meet growing demand and develop sales to the group’s current customer base along with developing new business. Linsey Willis joins the sales team and will focus on growth, having previously worked for Capita in a similar role.

Langmead added: “Our new recruits bring with them a wealth of experience. These appointments, across all areas of the business, underline our commitment to investing in our future as we expand to meet growing demand and highlight our ambition going forward as the business continues to go from strength to strength in both the public and private sectors across the UK.”

The firm has grown rapidly in recent years, fuelled by its involvement with four of Scotland’s largest public sector information and communications technology (ICT) contracts, with local authorities in Glasgow, Edinburgh Renfrewshire and the Scottish Borders.

It secured contracts valued at almost £17 million across multiple sectors between October and December last year, making it one of the best quarters in its 27-year history.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription: www.scotsman.com/subscriptions