Employees at listed firm Rosenblatt have come away with a £2m windfall after being allowed to cash in some of their shares early.

The group announced yesterday that certain employees and the trustee of the company’s employee benefit trust had sold 2 million ordinary shares at a price of 100p per share. The sale was made in order to satisfy ‘new institutional demand’ for a stake in the company.

The shares sold by employees represent 2.5% of the total number of shares held by this group.

Staff had been subject to lock-in agreements – which had prevented them cashing in before a specified date – following acquisitions of other businesses in recent years.

Those sellers who are employees of Convex Capital had been locked in until September this year, and lock-in for their remaining shares will stay in place for an extra four months until January 2023.

Nicola Foulston

Nicola Foulston, Rosenblatt chief executive

The sellers who were partners of Memery Crystal (and who are now employees of RGB Legal Services Limited) were subject to lock-in agreements that were due to expire in May 2023. The remaining stake held by these employees will be subject to a further 12-month lock-in agreement.

Following the sale, Nicola Foulston, chief executive, said: ‘With this limited sell down, I am delighted to have been able to expand RBG’s institutional shareholder base and improve liquidity. I am committed to proactively manage the share lock-ins of our internal shareholders in a way that best suits the needs of the company and all our shareholders.’

Shares in RBG Holdings rose 4.5% following the announcement, ending yesterday at 104.5p.

The company reported in April this year that pre-tax profits for full-year 2021 rose by 24.6% to £9.2m, with dividends of 5p per share likely to be paid to shareholders compared with 3p last year.