Dundee-based building engineering company Scan Building Services Ltd, founded in 1980, operates in the construction industry as a specialist contractor, providing services such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing systems. Serving clients in the Dundee area and beyond, the company’s experience ranges from installations in domestic properties to major commercial and industrial buildings. Scan Building Services’ clients include construction contractors, local authorities, health trusts and private companies. It has an annual turnover of £3.9million.
In May this year, Scan Building Services announced it had completed its transition to become an employee-owned business, with 56 members of staff becoming owners. Previous owner David Anderson has sold 100% of the shares to an Employee Ownership Trust, which is holding them on behalf of the employees. The deal was structured in order to make it affordable to the business without affecting its ability to reward the team and reinvest for the future. The plan is to also introduce an Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme for senior management.
We spoke to previous owner David Anderson and Graham Prophet, part of the senior management team, to find out more about the decision to become employee-owned.
Graham said: “Throughout the years we have endeavoured to provide the best possible quality of products and services to our clients and to pride ourselves in the standard of the work we provide. To do this we employ a highly skilled workforce of dedicated and local craftsmen, many of whom trained through the company’s apprenticeship scheme. So when we were considering our options for future ownership of the business, we wanted to ensure the jobs were retained in Dundee and the staff were rewarded for any success. Employee ownership ticked all of those boxes and following a feasibility study last year, we knew it was the best option for us.
“A fair price was achieved for the previous owner that also ensured sufficient reserves were left in the company to provide working capital to invest for the future.
“We notified the staff early on in the process and made sure they were involved and updated as the project progressed. All employees now have a real interest in the success of the business which will motivate them to perform and achieve.”
David Anderson added: “Rod Mathers from Henderson Loggie, a valued adviser to the business over the past two decades, suggested this very effective structure which met my objectives and allowed ownership of the company to pass to the employees, who now have a vested interest in making it the best company it can be and to benefit directly from their efforts. The team at Henderson Loggie guided us through the whole process from feasibility stage right through to completion most efficiently. I’m very proud of the way things have worked out and I wish the new owners of Scan every success for the future.”