CO-OPERATIVE Development Scotland (CDS) is urging more business owners to explore Employee Ownership (EO) as a viable succession route, as it celebrates EO day.

Sarah Deas, director of CDS, said: “In the last five years the number of employee owned businesses operating in Scotland has trebled and we are forecasting a ‘deal a month’ on average over the next year.”

Scotland’s latest business to adopt the model is newly-established social care provider Caledonia Social Care, which officially launched today, on EO Day, with a projected annual turnover of £2.5 million.

Alzheimer Scotland will initially be the main investor but plans to hand it over fully to the newly formed enterprise in the future.