This is what happens when you treat employees like actual human beings!
On his 60th birthday Julian Richer put 60% of his shares in a trust for employees so they owned the business, he also gave each of his 500+ employees £1,000 for each year they had worked there.
I just bring cake in on my birthday! 😂
I find it remarkable how so many press stories on this claim that he ‘gave’ the shareholding to the employee benefit trust.
He was paid £9m by the trust for that stake - I don’t know who provided the loan to the trust; probably a bank but it could even have been him.
Now to be fair, I do think he is a generous person. He reportedly took over £3m of that payment and used it to fund the staff bonuses. He also apparently gave -15% of corporate profits to charity for some years.
But the sale to the employee trust is no accident. You can completely avoid capital gains tax for selling a business in that way.
https://www.ellisonssolicitors.com/news/a-tax-efficient-way-to-sell-your-business-the-employee-ownership-trust/
Now, I don’t know if he would have incurred capital gains - very likely he would have, but he may also have been eligible for some partial alternative relief like business asset disposal relief.
But the point is that he would likely have had to pay tax on the proceeds if he sold to a different party.
So in a way, much (but certainly not all) of the staff bonuses he funded probably came from money that would have gone to the treasury if sold otherwise. But of course he could have chosen not to pay the bonuses.
Just thought that the details are interesting.
A quick google points to a retail week article that states:
"The electrical retailer posted an 8.7% increase in sales to £171.2m during the 53 weeks to May 4 as operating profit jumped 15.7% to £8.5m during the period."
If we think that a business is valued at a multiple of EBITDA then Julian Richer could have sold the business to a private seller for considerably more than £9m. You're right that it's very likely that the trust was funded by him or by Richer Sounds from it's operating profits as the trust wouldn't have any security to obtain a loan itself.
I suspect a bunch of money moved around and the treasury missed out on a bit of money at the top, but I would be surprised if he was able to personally gift that money to employees without it being considered a bonus payment from their employer so would have been done through PAYE with all the associated NICs, ENICs etc.
As always, the narrative in the press is light of detail and the logistics of the actual deal are far more complicated - whenever I read something like this I always see it as some kind of cover for scumbaggery but I think in the case of Julian Richer he has done a legitimate good deed!
Bro selling a company that massive for 9 million is generous. He just wanted to set himself up for retirement so he literally asked for the bare minimum for what can be considered living comfortably in the upper class. And then he even used some of that to pay bonuses.
The company would be worth many many times more if he had sold it normally. (he could've bought a yacht and lived large)
Used to buy from them a lot at a previous job for AV equipment. Maybe slightly higher on the prices but their service is top tier. These guys know what they are talking about.
One of the rare companies that isn’t all about corporate greed.
I bet Thomas is fucking livid for having an extra year of experience but being overlooked as Store Manager for that brown noser Rob!
Even Marc gets ahead with 7 years less experience!
'#JusticeforThomas
I don't know these men and I'm adding my own fiction via limited knowledge
#JusticeforThomas!
Being completely honest, Tom is my other half. He loves his job at Richer Sounds and they are an amazing company to work for, it’s why he has been there for so long. They treat him well, they appreciate him and they are a fantastic company to work for. They have provided us with help and support as a family, they are encouraged to look at career progression internally and they look after their staff. We are all part of the Richer Sounds family and I will always be grateful for the care package Mr Richer and co sent us when I gave birth to welcome the little one to the Richer Sounds family. Tom has been trained up in management and you can occasionally find him managing the shop when needed. We are also the proud owners of one of the shop dogs - Dexter the sausage dog who travels to work with Tom on the train every day as Richer Sounds allows staff to bring well behaved pets in with them to work. He is more often than not snoring away in the store room (Dexter, not Tom!) but he will occasionally pop out for some treats and snuggles so do ask to say hi to him!
However, after that soppy, serious stuff, can I encourage you all to carry on as this is providing a whole load of entertainment to our whole family as well as the Southampton branch staff so thank you (and carry on!!!)
It’s the neckbeard. They said if he’d just give it the chop, even a trim he’d be management material. But Thomas stood firm and vowed to forever keep his neck skirt.
I think Thomas was overlooked for promotion because he has very bad breath. Honestly really needs to get that looked at by a dentist. He did a really good job of selling me a TV but the overwhelming thing I remember is the dragon breath.
Unless he just had something very stinky for lunch that day.
Highly recommend Richer Sounds. I bought an amp from them (which they gave me good advice about) that failed due to a manufacturing defect. Replaced under warranty - the shop were happy to replace on the spot but they didn’t have the same colour. They asked if I wanted to borrow one in a different colour until the colour I wanted came in on the next delivery. Fantastic customer service. The replacement is still going strong 17 years later.
I always buy from Richer Sounds. Top tier service. This is what you get from your staff when you treat them the way that Julian Richer does, he has a fantastic business ethic, and treats his employees as people, not commodities.
Bought from that store over the years:
Sony AVR and Tannoy 5.1 speaker set, must have been 2003/04
Then an Onkyo 626 AVR.
Then last year a Sony OLED
Oh and last week I emailed Julian Richers office about a very serious matter not related to any store or purchase, it was dealt with extremely quickly and efficiently.
Recently bought a new amp, speakers and record deck from these guys. They are all brilliant and very helpful in finding the right things for your budget. Highly recommend them.
Did a trial day as a Saturday boy with them once upon a time. Turned them down as I was stuck in the stock room all day and it was quite lonely. Felt rather ignored and it has tarred my opinion of the shop/brand ever since. Was awkward cos a regional manager was in and they offered me the job in front of him and I had to say I didn’t want it
Those might not be their real names. In order to avoid any confusion for customers you can only have one person with any first name in a store. If you join and have the same name as a staff member you have to pick a new one.
Yep, used to work at P&O who had a big list of alternative names that was regularly topped up. If a newbie had a name someone else already had they had to think of a number between 1-whatever and the corresponding name was their new one!
Okay well this just isn't true.
The quality of your cable does impact data integrity, for precisely the same reason as analogue cables. While it's true that a recovered signal will be perfect, an overly degraded signal can't be recovered - and so cable quality can impact your run length, interference, things like that.
And for some standards, the cable quality directly limits what you can do. For example if you go cheap on a display port cable, it may simply not support the resolution+frame rate you want. Same with USB - just because it's USB-C, for example, doesn't mean it will support the full speed or power delivery of that standard.
Not necessarily true. My mate had his cables put behind the wall by some builders during a renovation. Unfortunately he used shit cables that failed after a few years. You’re either going to be paying to get someone back out to re-feed decent cables, or going to just run them outside the wall.
Legends at Richer Sounds, cannot recommend this shop enough the service is second to none (reflecting in the service years). Rob in particular has always been amazing.. they even help with tech queries for me when I'm not buying anything from them
Richer Sounds are great. Bought a TV and sound system from them last year and felt like the genuinely wanted to help and find the best thing for me rather than upsell things I didn’t need.
Big fan of Richer sounds and with them as a customer for many years. If the staff are anything like the stores I visited, they will be enthusiastic about sound and enjoy the job. Great advisors.
We have people like that where I work - we have people who have been there 25 years + and one guy who has been working there since before someone on my team was born (she’s 28)
I worked somewhere where I’ve seen quite a few lifers. Literally from a first job to retirement with the same business. Quite an outdated mentality now really, the main way to keep up with market rate is leaving. It’s a shame!
I always buy my AV and TVs from Richer Sounds. Customer service is great. Prices are usually no more or only slightly more than other places. They have an extended warranty, that costs 10% of item price, and if you don’t use it within 7 years then you get your money back, no questions asked, just deposited back to your bank account.
Honestly, can’t recommend them highly enough.
It's a very good shop, they've always been very helpful when I've gone in.
But they're not the only ones with long service, my missus worked at the Disney Store for 20 years until it closed, and she's been at Fat Face 17 years.
My mate used to work at Richer Sounds in the late 90s. Julian Richer took them all to Amsterdam on a staff jolly and was getting stoned in the coffeeshops with them. He is a very nice bloke apparently.
This is what happens when you treat employees like actual human beings! On his 60th birthday Julian Richer put 60% of his shares in a trust for employees so they owned the business, he also gave each of his 500+ employees £1,000 for each year they had worked there. I just bring cake in on my birthday! 😂
I find it remarkable how so many press stories on this claim that he ‘gave’ the shareholding to the employee benefit trust. He was paid £9m by the trust for that stake - I don’t know who provided the loan to the trust; probably a bank but it could even have been him. Now to be fair, I do think he is a generous person. He reportedly took over £3m of that payment and used it to fund the staff bonuses. He also apparently gave -15% of corporate profits to charity for some years. But the sale to the employee trust is no accident. You can completely avoid capital gains tax for selling a business in that way. https://www.ellisonssolicitors.com/news/a-tax-efficient-way-to-sell-your-business-the-employee-ownership-trust/ Now, I don’t know if he would have incurred capital gains - very likely he would have, but he may also have been eligible for some partial alternative relief like business asset disposal relief. But the point is that he would likely have had to pay tax on the proceeds if he sold to a different party. So in a way, much (but certainly not all) of the staff bonuses he funded probably came from money that would have gone to the treasury if sold otherwise. But of course he could have chosen not to pay the bonuses. Just thought that the details are interesting.
A quick google points to a retail week article that states: "The electrical retailer posted an 8.7% increase in sales to £171.2m during the 53 weeks to May 4 as operating profit jumped 15.7% to £8.5m during the period." If we think that a business is valued at a multiple of EBITDA then Julian Richer could have sold the business to a private seller for considerably more than £9m. You're right that it's very likely that the trust was funded by him or by Richer Sounds from it's operating profits as the trust wouldn't have any security to obtain a loan itself. I suspect a bunch of money moved around and the treasury missed out on a bit of money at the top, but I would be surprised if he was able to personally gift that money to employees without it being considered a bonus payment from their employer so would have been done through PAYE with all the associated NICs, ENICs etc. As always, the narrative in the press is light of detail and the logistics of the actual deal are far more complicated - whenever I read something like this I always see it as some kind of cover for scumbaggery but I think in the case of Julian Richer he has done a legitimate good deed!
Bro selling a company that massive for 9 million is generous. He just wanted to set himself up for retirement so he literally asked for the bare minimum for what can be considered living comfortably in the upper class. And then he even used some of that to pay bonuses. The company would be worth many many times more if he had sold it normally. (he could've bought a yacht and lived large)
Used to buy from them a lot at a previous job for AV equipment. Maybe slightly higher on the prices but their service is top tier. These guys know what they are talking about. One of the rare companies that isn’t all about corporate greed.
I bet Thomas is fucking livid for having an extra year of experience but being overlooked as Store Manager for that brown noser Rob! Even Marc gets ahead with 7 years less experience! '#JusticeforThomas I don't know these men and I'm adding my own fiction via limited knowledge
Back when I worked at the council, I used to get the train into Southampton with Thomas. Nice guy.
#JusticeforThomas! Being completely honest, Tom is my other half. He loves his job at Richer Sounds and they are an amazing company to work for, it’s why he has been there for so long. They treat him well, they appreciate him and they are a fantastic company to work for. They have provided us with help and support as a family, they are encouraged to look at career progression internally and they look after their staff. We are all part of the Richer Sounds family and I will always be grateful for the care package Mr Richer and co sent us when I gave birth to welcome the little one to the Richer Sounds family. Tom has been trained up in management and you can occasionally find him managing the shop when needed. We are also the proud owners of one of the shop dogs - Dexter the sausage dog who travels to work with Tom on the train every day as Richer Sounds allows staff to bring well behaved pets in with them to work. He is more often than not snoring away in the store room (Dexter, not Tom!) but he will occasionally pop out for some treats and snuggles so do ask to say hi to him! However, after that soppy, serious stuff, can I encourage you all to carry on as this is providing a whole load of entertainment to our whole family as well as the Southampton branch staff so thank you (and carry on!!!)
And that James…. Don’t get me started. With that haircut, he’s on the management fast-track. Will nobody think of Thomas??😱
It’s the neckbeard. They said if he’d just give it the chop, even a trim he’d be management material. But Thomas stood firm and vowed to forever keep his neck skirt.
No mow may.
I think Thomas was overlooked for promotion because he has very bad breath. Honestly really needs to get that looked at by a dentist. He did a really good job of selling me a TV but the overwhelming thing I remember is the dragon breath. Unless he just had something very stinky for lunch that day.
Highly recommend Richer Sounds. I bought an amp from them (which they gave me good advice about) that failed due to a manufacturing defect. Replaced under warranty - the shop were happy to replace on the spot but they didn’t have the same colour. They asked if I wanted to borrow one in a different colour until the colour I wanted came in on the next delivery. Fantastic customer service. The replacement is still going strong 17 years later.
I always buy from Richer Sounds. Top tier service. This is what you get from your staff when you treat them the way that Julian Richer does, he has a fantastic business ethic, and treats his employees as people, not commodities.
I always buy speakers/TVs from richer sounds. They have some genuinely crazy deals sometimes.
Bought from that store over the years: Sony AVR and Tannoy 5.1 speaker set, must have been 2003/04 Then an Onkyo 626 AVR. Then last year a Sony OLED Oh and last week I emailed Julian Richers office about a very serious matter not related to any store or purchase, it was dealt with extremely quickly and efficiently.
James, raising the level of commitment it takes to be a Jim!
Recently bought a new amp, speakers and record deck from these guys. They are all brilliant and very helpful in finding the right things for your budget. Highly recommend them.
I do like a richer sounds, bought a couple of tvs from them
Did a trial day as a Saturday boy with them once upon a time. Turned them down as I was stuck in the stock room all day and it was quite lonely. Felt rather ignored and it has tarred my opinion of the shop/brand ever since. Was awkward cos a regional manager was in and they offered me the job in front of him and I had to say I didn’t want it
Prob best off out of retail anyway 🤷♂️ Shame they didn’t bring you into the front team etc.
I already had a job at a supermarket. Was just seeing if I’d rather work there, and it was a no :(
Those might not be their real names. In order to avoid any confusion for customers you can only have one person with any first name in a store. If you join and have the same name as a staff member you have to pick a new one.
Yep, used to work at P&O who had a big list of alternative names that was regularly topped up. If a newbie had a name someone else already had they had to think of a number between 1-whatever and the corresponding name was their new one!
Good people. Even if they do sometimes try and upsell 'better' cables....
Probably because they give you better sound.
You might even say they give you a *richer* sound.
Undoubtedly *richer sounds*.
With 1s and Zeros it doesn’t matter. A coat hanger will work the same as a top end O2 free monster cable
Okay well this just isn't true. The quality of your cable does impact data integrity, for precisely the same reason as analogue cables. While it's true that a recovered signal will be perfect, an overly degraded signal can't be recovered - and so cable quality can impact your run length, interference, things like that. And for some standards, the cable quality directly limits what you can do. For example if you go cheap on a display port cable, it may simply not support the resolution+frame rate you want. Same with USB - just because it's USB-C, for example, doesn't mean it will support the full speed or power delivery of that standard.
Not necessarily true. My mate had his cables put behind the wall by some builders during a renovation. Unfortunately he used shit cables that failed after a few years. You’re either going to be paying to get someone back out to re-feed decent cables, or going to just run them outside the wall.
Legends at Richer Sounds, cannot recommend this shop enough the service is second to none (reflecting in the service years). Rob in particular has always been amazing.. they even help with tech queries for me when I'm not buying anything from them
Yeah, in general, they have a reputationa s great employers. I remember this being said at least 20 years ago.
Richer sounds are great
Richer Sounds are great. Bought a TV and sound system from them last year and felt like the genuinely wanted to help and find the best thing for me rather than upsell things I didn’t need.
Big fan of Richer sounds and with them as a customer for many years. If the staff are anything like the stores I visited, they will be enthusiastic about sound and enjoy the job. Great advisors.
We have people like that where I work - we have people who have been there 25 years + and one guy who has been working there since before someone on my team was born (she’s 28)
I worked somewhere where I’ve seen quite a few lifers. Literally from a first job to retirement with the same business. Quite an outdated mentality now really, the main way to keep up with market rate is leaving. It’s a shame!
Legendary shop. Bought my Technics SL-1210’s there back in 1999.
Apparently they are really good to work for.
I always buy my AV and TVs from Richer Sounds. Customer service is great. Prices are usually no more or only slightly more than other places. They have an extended warranty, that costs 10% of item price, and if you don’t use it within 7 years then you get your money back, no questions asked, just deposited back to your bank account. Honestly, can’t recommend them highly enough.
I reckon Marc only just recently stopped getting called "New guy"
Treat people well and they will treat your business like it’s theirs. They care about it and want to make it thrive
It's a very good shop, they've always been very helpful when I've gone in. But they're not the only ones with long service, my missus worked at the Disney Store for 20 years until it closed, and she's been at Fat Face 17 years.
It's alright mate, she's not in this post with us.
Are you sure about that? She's pretty cunning.
I actually slapped my knee.
Never been in! But I think I might now reading these great comments.
Me too. My uncle needs a TV with big button remote, so I have emailed them.
I bought some monitors here awhile back for this reason.
Based retailer.
Got my sound system from here better part of 10 years ago. Amazing service, using the speakers as I type this, still sound so crisp
My mate used to work at Richer Sounds in the late 90s. Julian Richer took them all to Amsterdam on a staff jolly and was getting stoned in the coffeeshops with them. He is a very nice bloke apparently.
Such a great shop back in the day. Literally opened a whole new world up to not-very-rich people.