A Perthshire classic car restoration specialist is motoring into a new era after adopting an employee ownership model.
Alyth based Classic Restorations has been working towards the new structure with Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS) division for the past year after founder and managing director Charles Palmer decided he wanted to ease towards retirement.
The company has gained an international reputation for the standard of its car restoration projects and premium marques such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Daimler and Jaguar can often be seen being worked on within the firm’s former jute mill workshop.
The company is Alyth’s biggest employer with 18 staff and posted annual revenues of £1.1 million in the last year.
Mr Palmer, who has been the driving force behind the business for the 30 years – said he decided to explore employee ownership ni order to ensure the business continued to operate following his retirement and the highly-skilled workforce he had built up was retained.
“Over the years we have been in business, we have employed skilled local tradesmen and have trained many apprentices to keep these skills alive,” Mr Palmer said.
“We have a responsibility to safeguard the future of our young workforce.
“With the prosperity of the company secured, we can continue our expansion into overseas markets including Germany where we will be exhibiting again in 2014, in addition to having a presence at other major events in the UK and Ireland.
“It is the perfect succession solution for me as I am able to retain a role in the company during the transition period leading up to my retirement.
“I’ve received plenty of offers to sell the business but employee ownership was always going to be the right choice for Classic Restorations.”
CDS, the employee ownership arm of national agency Scottish Enterprise, provided support to the company during the ownership transfer process along with transition consultant Alistair Gibb.
The move has seen an employee benefit trust established which now owns 25% of the business with an agreement in place to purchase the balance over the next five years.
The new model means each of the 18 staff has a financial stake in the business and therefore a personal interest in ensuring it prospers.
CDS chief executive Sarah Deas said: “Classic Restorations’ main priority was to secure the long-term future of the employees and business. Both of these goals have been achieved through employee ownership, which gives all 18 staff a meaningful stake in their company.
“By becoming employee-owned, the company is safeguarding highly-skilled jobs, keeping specialist skills alive and giving the owner the ability to manage his exit from the business over a period of time.”
In Scotland, employee-owned businesses currently employ more than 8000 people and account for a combined annual turnover of just under £1bn. Local examples include Fife based paper maker Tullis Russell and textile manufacturer Scott & Fyfe.