THE £80 million sale of the QTS rail maintenance business developed by Alan McLeish to Renew Holdings underlines the scale of the achievement of a man who could provide inspiration for entrepreneurs across Scotland.
Mr McLeish has grown a business he started with a £300 loan from his mum into a leading player in a highly specialised engineering market in the face of intense competition from big players.
QTS has prospered after responding effectively to big changes in the way the rail system operated after the old British Rail was split up.
Describing the QTS story as fantastic, Renew boss Paul Scott underlined the appeal of a business which has developed a strong position in a regulated market which it is hard for newcomers to break in to.
There will be some sadness in Scotland that control of another success story is going to move outside the country. Renew is based in Leeds.
The fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote has encouraged firms based outside the UK to buy a range of Scottish businesses.
But Mr Scott appeared keen to stress that Renew’s purchase of QTS should be good news for Scotland.
Renew expects to help QTS accelerate growth under its existing management team and to leave the operational headquarters in Strathaven. It has no plans to make any employees redundant.
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