EOT for retail jewellers

Go EO helped Klimek Jewellers sell to an Employee Ownership Trust.

Octa (UK) Ltd, trading as Klimek Jewellers, is based in Truro, Cornwall.

The shop address is 84 Lemon Street, TR1 2QA.

Husband and wife team Karol and Bettina Klimek founded the business in 1997. Karol passed away in 2017 leaving Bettina as sole proprietor.

Klimek Jewellers – EOT sale

Employee Ownership Trust sale for jewellery retail business, Klimek Jewellers

What does the business do?

Bettina and her team are gemmologists and jewellery professionals, and their main aim is to buy gemstones with a view to creating one-off beautiful pieces of quality jewellery. The team also use wholesalers to bring in current fashion trends, providing further variety to customers. 

Why was change needed?

“I felt it was time to retire, as I am past retirement age and wanted to protect the integrity of the company and safeguard my employees’ jobs. I want to spend more time with my children and grandchildren.“

Where did you seek advice?

“I had already heard of Employee Ownership but thought that the employees would have to find part of the sale value. When I was invited by the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce to a meeting about the subject, I realised that it was just what I had envisaged for the continuation of the business and it wouldn’t require my team to find a lot of money to take over the business and take it forward into the future.”

How did you find Go EO?

“I went through the accountants who ran the event about employee ownership and they introduced my to Chris who helped me through the process.”

What was it like working with Chris and Go EO?

“Right from the start, I felt that Chris fully understood what needed to be done, he explained things perfectly and made it so easy for the Trustees to sign the paperwork with confidence.  I would definitely recommend Chris and his team to anyone wanting to go down the same route.”

How are things going for the jewellery business now?

“It is still early days and the business has had a lot of expenditure in the first couple of months of this year with a high VAT bill after the Christmas period and the business insurance falling due as well as the usual running costs.”

“I remain confident that the staff will be able to keep things going. I feel I still have a lot to show them and hadn’t realised just how much I’ve been doing myself. It’s a journey, however I know we will get there!”

Go EO comments

“As she approached retirement, Bettina had a vision for the jewellery business’s future. She felt an EOT was the best way to secure that.

It should give her a decent payout for the decades of effort put into building it. Whilst also giving the team of gemmologists there a great opportunity to keep the business going for some time to come. We wish them all the best in this new chapter for the company!”

If you are interested in finding out more about transitioning to an EOT, get in touch with us at Go EO to see how we can help.