The employees of a Dundee-based aerospace engineering company have been given ownership of the business in a bid to secure the long-term future of the firm.

STAR-Dundee provides international space agencies with specially designed electronic components and test equipment for spacecraft.

The company employs 25 people and has offices in both Dundee and Barcelona.

After 15 years, founder Professor Steve Parkes backed the move to an employee-owned business to keep it in Dundee.

Mr Parkes said: "Having formed STAR-Dundee and forged it over 15 years into a company with a worldwide reputation, I realised that I was not going to be around to see it through the next 15 years.

"Selling the company to another organisation, which would inevitably change the culture and might even move it from its Dundee base, was not a very attractive idea.

"Employee ownership retains and strengthens the culture and will ensure that it always has a base in Dundee."