Business View Magazine March 2023

113 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 HOUCHENS INDUSTRI ES Houchens will continue to consider acquisition targets that offer a strong employee culture, experienced and focused management teams, and display strong cash flows and profitability. plan for our employees,” says Houchens Industries President Brandon Shirley. That’s because an ESOP is a type of employee benefit plan, similar in some ways to a profit- sharing plan. In an ESOP, a company sets up a trust fund, to which it contributes new shares of its own stock or cash to buy existing shares. Alternatively, the ESOP can borrow money to buy new or existing shares, with the company making cash contributions to the plan to enable it to repay the loan. Regardless of how the plan acquires stock, company contributions to the trust are tax-deductible, within certain limits. Employee ownership for Houchens team members allows those employees to share in the success of the company, and to build retirement benefits through participation in ownership. A typical disadvantage of an ESOP company is that the retirement accounts of the participants are usually almost entirely invested in sponsor company stock. This lack of diversification can be a significant risk. Houchens Industries is proud to be a well- diversified organization with investments in several companies in the retail, industrial