A TEAM of IT specialists liked the company they worked for so much, that they have bought it, reports Nadia Jefferson-Brown.

It was a bold step, but staff at Carnforth-based Savant were determined to keep the north Lancashire town as the base for the software company, and have successfully ensured their futures remain rooted in the area.

After approaching the Preston-based Lancashire Co-operative Development Agency for advice, staff have established an employee ownership scheme and the company is now in the hands of an employee benefit trust (EBT).

Managing director Ian Henderson said that meant employees could now share in the benefits of their work, which involves building specialist databases and offering maintenance support.

"We're a software company; the assets of this company are the staff.

It seemed right that everybody should share in the rewards of what we are doing," said Mr Henderson.

"If we can get the message out to staff that they are working for themselves and not the boss, and also see continuing profitability, it will have been a success," he added.

Project manager Stephen Edge added that there was now "a shared vision of goals for the company".

As part of the venture, staff have now appointed an elected man-agement team and launched the new operation from its New Street offices.

Pete Gregg, a software engineer and employee representative director, explained that a London-based company had been keen on taking over Savant when its founding owners retired, and staff had been concerned they may

have been asked to move.

However, with the establishment of the EBT, company profits over the coming three years will be used to

buy out John and Margot Collins, of Barbon, who originally set up the company in 1979.

Mr Gregg stressed it was now important to maintain the trust staff had placed in the management team, and he said the real test of profitability would be in the next financial year.

The Carnforth company, which has 31 employees, boasts an impressive list of clients.

This includes the National Blood Service, after the company won a contract in 1996 to run its core computer system, which has a database of more than a billion records and is growing at a rate of eight million a week.

The information includes donor records, details of blood tests and store management.

Later, in 1999, Savant was voted overall winner in the prestigious Health Care IT Effectiveness Awards.

Stephen Edge, project manager, is in charge of some of Savant's other major projects, such as a contract

to run the British Medical Association's subscription service for the British Medical Journal.

"This is a very significant project, obviously high profile, because it can't afford to go wrong," he said.

"It is vital that the journals don't go out late; that medical information is disseminated as quickly as possible," he added.

Other contracts are with the Government-funded Careers and Education Business Partnership in Birmingham and Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology.