Civil engineer founders put trust in employees

A SCOTTISH civil engineering contractor which employs around 130 people is being moved into employee ownership by its founders.

Tayside-based Kilmac is being placed in an employee ownership trust (EOT) by founders Athole Mcdonald and Richard Kilcullen, 18 years after its inception.

Mr Mcdonald said: “It’s good news for Tayside, with the vast majority of our staff living in Dundee, Perthshire and Fife, and it ensures the company will continue to provide stability for our customers and job security for our employees.

“We could have found a buyer for the business but we have an experienced and talented team who are more than capable of taking on the reins over the next few years. The structure is being created to take the business forward, provide clarity to our staff and customers and to avoid unnecessary disruption.”

The profitable business, which has built up an annual turnover of around £20 million, acts as a main contractor for local authorities, universities, local health services, road network authorities, council direct labour organisations and private clients. It is a groundworks contractor for commercial, social infrastructure and housing projects.

Kilmac, which was advised on its move by Carole Leslie’s Ownership Associates consultancy, is working on transforming Perth City Hall.

From a first-year turnover of around £800,000, Kilmac had by 2018 achieved annual revenues of £10m. “With a strategy of expanding its operational footprint beyond its traditional Tayside heartland”, Kilmac’s next financial results will show profits of £1.3m on a £20m turnover, Ownership Associates noted.

Mr Mcdonald said: “We have to look to the future and, by creating an EOT, Kilmac will be in the safe hands of our excellent senior management team.

“We have come a long way from the days when our biggest headache was getting the photocopier to work and [stopping] the kitchen worktop being covered in ink.”