After 25 years in business, the founder and CEO of Cando Contracting Ltd. is celebrating by giving every member of the firm's staff 25 shares in the company.

Considering the shares have skyrocketed in value since 1996 and the fact Cando is a privately owned company with only one chance a year to buy shares, the "gift" is pretty exciting news.

For about 65 per cent of the 230 employees of the Brandon-based, short-line railway and logistics company, the gift will boost their stake in the company. About 40 per cent of the equity of the company is now owned by workers at Cando and the value of that equity has increased in value from $2.75 per share in 1996, when the employee ownership plan was implemented, to $13.50 today based on a formula that includes book value and retained earnings.

"We're so pleased that we have been able to share the ownership of the company," Gord Peters, founder and CEO of Cando, said in a telephone interview. "What it means is that everyone is in the same boat and on the same side. Ownership does that."

The employee ownership phenomenon has gone so well at Cando that there is now demand for $750,000 to $1 million worth of shares every year.

"I never dreamt that there would be this kind of demand," Peters said.

In addition to the opportunity to buy a certain number of shares every year -- which the company matches -- Cando also evenly distributes 40 per cent of the pre-tax profit to employees every year, regardless of whether or not they own shares.

The company started its employee ownership plan in 1996 after Crocus Investment Fund made its initial investment of about $600,000. As part of Crocus's general mandate, the labour-sponsored, venture capital fund encourages employee ownership in its companies.

In the case of Cando, which Crocus officials agree is one of the best examples of how employee ownership should work, employees essentially buy back Crocus' shares.

"The group RRSP program at Cando essentially operates as our exit strategy at Cando," said James Umlah, Crocus' chief investment officer. In its latest portfolio report, Crocus lists its investment in Cando at $2.2 million, but Umlah said there is an ongoing cycle of investing in the company and selling the shares back to employees.

Cheryl Crowe, the manager of the social responsibility audit at Crocus, said Cando's excellent financial performance can be traced back to employee ownership.

"We definitely think there is a correlation," Crowe said after Cando's annual general meeting in Brandon on Friday.

Cando bills itself as a high-quality supplier of support and logistics service to class one and short-line railways and industrial customers. It operates four different short lines, including one in northern Alberta servicing the tar sands region, one in central Manitoba, a short line from Winnipeg to Pine Falls and one from Winnipeg to Graysville. The company is active in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

This last year, the company grossed about $30 million in sales. Peters believes the company can double again in size during the next five to seven years.

"We're positioned well for growth," he said. "We have a good niche market that we operate in, we know how to raise capital. We're in the right business at the right time."

For Crowe, one of the original employees at Crocus who has been studying employee ownership for 12 years, the thing that has made the big difference at Cando is the confidence in the employees shown by ownership and management.

"Gord Peters was able to trust the employee to buy in and make good decisions about the company," she said. "Now there is even an employee shareholder on the board of directors."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca