Employees take over to help secure Clansman

SCOTTISH engineering firm Clansman Dynamics has secured its future by becoming employee-owned.

The firm designs and manufactures industrial manipulators and robots for foundries, forges and waste-processing at its factory in East Kilbride. It exports to 35 countries and customers, including Daewoo, Daimler and Volvo.

Owner Dick Philbrick said it had been a long-term ambition to take Clansman into employee ownership to ensure that it remained in Scotland.

He added that the business – established in 1994 – was in a strong position and the time was right to put it in the hands of employees to realise its potential.

"Employee ownership gives everybody a stake in the company and the deal absolutely discourages 'fattening the goose' for a quick sale, which seems to finish off so many engineering businesses," Dick said.

Its turnover rose by 12 per cent in 2009, with 95 per cent of all sales exported. It achieved record orders of 1.6 million in November and aims to boost turnover from 7m to 9m within the next three and increase employee numbers from 30 to 35.

Its change of structure was supported by the Baxi Partnership, an employee-ownership investment vehicle based in Dunfermline, which controls a 20m fund.

Baxi managing director John Alexander said: "The quality of the Clansman product made it a prime target for overseas competitors, but their independence is now secure, which is good news for the local people and the wider Scottish economy."

Employee-owned companies outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index in the third quarter of 2009, according to the UK Employee Ownership Index (EOI). Employee-owned companies' share prices were up 27.6 per cent, while FTSE All Share companies' prices rose 21.3 per cent over the quarter.