A candles specialist that supplies components used by thousands of independent producers has won multi-million pound backing for expansion from investors after enjoying a boom in sales, which has been fuelled by its success in Europe.
Candle Shack secured £4.4m investment from Maven Capital Partners after recording a five-fold increase in turnover over the past three years.
The company has capitalised on the growing popularity of candles among consumers around the world. Candle Shack said the kits it supplies are used by small producers to support thousands of niche home fragrance brands across Europe. The company also produces candles on a contract basis for international brands such as Italian homewares business Fornasetti.
Falkirk-based Candle Shack expects to create 50 jobs in the area of its home town in support of its push for further growth.
The investment indicates that Maven has great confidence in Candle Shack’s prospects even though the fallout from Brexit has posed big challenges for some firms that export to EU countries
Some have complained that the end of the free movement of goods between the UK and EU countries has left them facing huge administrative burdens.
READ MORE: Brexit - Fife homewares firm highlights challenges for exporters
The funding provided by Maven will be used to help Candle Shack expand its EU operations. This will include the opening of a fulfilment centre in the Netherlands.
The funding will also be used to help Candle Shack develop its sales and marketing function, to fund new product development and to improve operational efficiency.
Candle Shack chief executive Duncan MacLean said: “Maven’s investment in Candle Shack will fuel our next phase of growth, enabling us to better support thousands of niche home fragrance brands across Europe.”
He added: As with many other businesses, the additional complexity triggered by Brexit has resulted in some administrative change which for Candle Shack included the establishment of a Dutch subsidiary.”
Mr MacLean founded Candle Shack with his wife Cheryl in 2010. The company employs more than 100 people at its West Carron facility. This houses a development lab and manufacturing site.
READ MORE: Scottish caravan park operator bought by property tycoons amid staycation boom
David Milroy, a partner at Maven, said Candle Shack represented an exciting opportunity to invest in a well-established business led by a passionate and entrepreneurial team that has delivered impressive, profitable growth.
He noted: "Much has been achieved with limited marketing spend and the funding will help accelerate growth with investment in sales and marketing, stock, and logistics. We also look forward to supporting the business in developing its new fulfilment centre in the Netherlands which will allow for frictionless trade with the EU, removing additional cost for consumers and improving delivery times.”
READ MORE: Scottish private equity house sold for up to £100m
In May Glasgow-based Maven was bought by wealth and asset manager Mattioli Woods, which has headquarters in Leicester.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel