The plans were welcomed by the group’s employees.
Owner, Chris McMail turned down multimillion pound offers for his business from companies from around the globe which were looking to relocate operations from Kilmarnock, but had no intention of uprooting the business after more than 30 years in Scotland.
Worth around £15m, the firm achieved an annual turnover of £5m in 2021, despite the challenges of a global pandemic. Chris believes this is largely down to the efforts of the 70 employees.
Managing Director of Microtech, Chris McMail, said: “This is a great business with talented loyal people. My prime consideration was that any action taken would not compromise them in any way, nor disrupt the excellent service we deliver to our clients.
“After making the initial decision to explore options for the future, I received various competitive purchase offers. However, none of these guaranteed the continued operation of Microtech in Scotland, which took so much hard work to build.
“It soon became apparent that any sale of the business to a third party would result in drastic changes to the company operations, including potential relocation and possible job losses.
“When the proposal of transitioning to an EOT was suggested, I knew this was the best way to secure the company’s position in Ayrshire.”
Established in 1986 by Chris, Microtech began its journey as a professional IT Support company and has since grown to become one of the largest independent and market-leading IT Support and Healthcare companies in Scotland. Specialising in Telehealth and IT industries, the Ayrshire-based firm has developed an extensive customer and contracts base across the public and private sectors, including SME’s and large corporate enterprises. The group prides itself on providing a seamless and secure managed service to the NHS, a valued client for more than 25 years.
Chris found the transition process to be straightforward and credits the expert project team for being able to complete ahead of schedule. The internal reaction was encouraging;. “The leadership team were enthusiastic about the prospect, and the employees embraced the news. Our customers saw it as a positive step. The EOT means we can now focus on the long-term success of Microtech, and continue to deliver our excellent service and support to our customers.”
Scotland based employee ownership specialists.
