Primepac Solutions Ltd

PrimePac Solutions Ltd, is an employee owned worker co-operative that fills bottles, sachets and tubes for clients including leading brands in the health and personal care sector.

The co-operative was formed when their parent company decided to withdraw from Wales following a major fire which destroyed their packing facilities. Until the fire in 2005, 140 people were employed by Budelpack Rumney. When the news broke that the company was not going to reinvest in the area, a group of employees contacted the management of Tower Colliery, who had famously formed a worker co-operative to buy their pit from the National Coal Board, who pointed them in the direction of the Wales Co-operative Centre.

Knowing Budelpack’s strategy of high volumes and low margins the group were able to put together a business plan based on low volumes and high margins and staff members decided to invest their redundancy payment into setting up a new employee owned company. 19 employees were needed

to start up the new company and they were oversubscribed by 100%. After much negotiation, the employees managed to purchase necessary equipment from Budelpack and began trading in October 2005.

With manufacturing jobs on the decline in Wales the staff were keen to preserve their livelihoods and keep jobs in the local area. The Wales Cooperative Centre provided legal and business planning advice and helped the company access funding from Co-operative and Community Finance, Finance Wales and the Welsh Government.

Since 2007, PrimePac Solutions Ltd has seen a year on year increase in both turnover and budget. The firm has paid out dividends to shareholders greater than the amount they invested at the start.

In 2012, Primepac Solutions won the prestigious Productivity and Performance Award at the national Employee Ownership Conference in Birmingham. The award showcases the most dramatic and powerful examples of employee owned organisations driving up levels of productivity to deliver improved performance, and leading to exemplary outcomes in a particular field.

Many successful businesses fail because succession is handled badly. This can lead to job losses, losing supplier contracts and even business closures. Social Business Wales has expertise in succession planning and guiding businesses through the employee buy-out process.

For more information on our free tailored support call 03000 6 03000 and ask for Social Business Wales