News
Optimat are taking part in this year’s campaign, to celebrate how business is better together for individuals, the business and the community because we have seen first-hand the benefits for ourselves over the past couple of years, and we haven,t looked back since.
Formed in 1989 our independent research and strategy consultancy is proud to celebrate employee ownership alongside others in the sector across the UK.
Early in 2017 we were faced with an issue of succession: our founder and Managing Director wanted to retire, another shareholder wanted to pursue new opportunities and a third wanted to start planning for future retirement. These owners needed to find a way to extract value from the business they had built up over 28 years, ensure the continued success of Optimat, and provide security and stability for remaining staff.
Various options were considered, including a trade sale and a management buyout. However, the preferred option was Employee Ownership as it provided a solution which acknowledged the important contribution of our staff, whilst rewarding them, and avoided creating the same succession problems in the future.
With the guidance of Andrew Harrison from Co-ownership Solutions and support from Co-operative Development Scotland, we began a 6 month transition process that was completed in December 2017. As Angus Hunter, our founder, explained in 2017:
‚ ‘I am very pleased to see this positive, forward looking change in the ownership of Optimat and am confident it will enable the company to continue its success and to thrive and grow in the future.‚Äù
Now more than 3 years later, as an Employee Owned company, we are still a successful independent research and strategy consultancy specialising in innovation and economic development. We work with a wide range of public and private sector clients across many different industry sectors helping them to exploit new markets and technologies, and this year we celebrate our 32nd birthday.
The Employee Ownership Association (EOA) is a not-for-profit and politically independent organisation that represents businesses which are employee owned or transitioning to employee ownership across the UK.
Supporting a diverse network of more than 450 businesses, the EOA works in close partnership with its members to champion, promote and provide insight into the business case for employee ownership and promote the place of employee ownership within the UK economy.
For more details on the Employee Ownership Association, contact: Keely.lead@employeeownership.co.uk
