Companies from the travel and tourism, IT and the oil and gas industries were the big winners in the prestigious 2013 annual ifs ProShare Awards Ceremony.
The 2013 ceremony saw the emergence of several smaller companies, alongside some more traditional names, to claim awards for their contribution to the employee share ownership industry over the past year.
Amadeus IT Holding, a transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry won the coveted “best new share plan” award, while Rackspace, an open cloud company within the IT industry, and Apache, an independent oil and gas exploration company won in the “most effective communication” and “best overall performance in fostering employee share ownership” categories respectively.
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More than 400 representatives of the employee share ownership industry packed into the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden to celebrate excellence across the industry throughout the last 12 months.
The awards, which were hosted by comedian Miles Jupp, received a special guest address from Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP, in a sign of the growing importance of the employee share ownership industry to the wider economy.
Among the other winners on the night were once again some of the UK’s leading companies, including Burberry and BT in the “Best overall performance in fostering employee share ownership (for companies with between 1,001 & 15,000 employees)” and “most effective use of technology” categories.
ifs ProShare was established by the Treasury, London Stock Exchange and a group of FTSE 100 companies in 1992, to promote wider share ownership.
John Collison, Head of Employee Share Ownership at ifs ProShare said: “2013 has been a momentous year for the employee share ownership industry and this has been reflected by the quality of the nominations that we have received and from the diverse range of industries from which they have been submitted.
“The story of this year’s awards is the emergence of several comparatively smaller companies, whose innovative thinking and energy have impressed the judges throughout. That these companies have performed so well demonstrates that employee share ownership can benefit nearly every business, regardless of size.
“We congratulate all of our winners and finalists and commend all of their hard work in bringing the widely-known benefits of employee share ownership to the UK and global economy.”
Full list of winners and commended finalists:
- Best new share plan: Amadeus IT Holding
- Best international share plan: Rio Tinto
- Most effective communication (up to 1,000 employees): Rackspace
- Most effective communication (1,001 to 15,000 employees): Henderson Global Investors
- Commended: Amadeus IT Holdings
- Most effective communication (15,001 + employees): Asda
- Commended: BT
- Best commitment to employee share ownership for small companies with fewer than 250 employees: IGAS
- Best employee share plan following a major corporate change: Conviviality Retail
- Most effective use of technology: BT
- Commended: Henderson Global Investors
- Best overall performance in fostering employee share ownership (Up to 1,000 employees): Apache
- Commended: Jupiter Fund Management
- Best overall performance in fostering employee share ownership (1,001 – 15,000 employees): Burberry
- Commended: Childbase
- Commended: Henderson Global Investors
- Best overall performance in fostering employee share ownership (15,001+ employees):BT
- Commended: Aviva
