ONE of Scotland’s oldest independent food and drink wholesalers has acquired another Scottish business.
Food and drink wholesaler JW Filshill said it is ramping up investment ahead of its move to purpose-built premises in the autumn with the acquisition of the independent Iain Hill Ltd wholesale business, located a few miles away in Renfrewshire.
Family-owned Filshill, based at Hillington Park and on track to relocate to its new 123,034 sq ft distribution centre at Westway Park near Glasgow Airport, acquired Linwood-based Iain Hill, a wholesaler that specialises in soft drinks, confectionery and other snacks, for an undisclosed sum.
Simon Hannah, JW Filshill chief executive, signalled further expansion.
“We’re ambitious to grow and both new business acquisition and diversity within our business are very much part of our ten-year strategy plan,” said Mr Hannah
“In January 2021, we acquired the Eldorado Tonic Wine brand which is a good example of that while the acquisition of Iain Hill boosts us operationally as it adds to our pool of drivers and strengthens our assets, including HGV vehicles - we will therefore look at all opportunities.”
The acquisition of Iain Hill, which has 15 staff, also means that Filshill is looking to recruit locally for additional drivers and warehouse operatives, it said.
READ MORE: Glasgow wholesaler aims to double in size by 2031
Mr Hannah added: “Iain Hill Ltd is a perfect fit for Filshill given the many synergies between the two businesses – both independent family-owned companies with the same values and people-focused culture, and a similar geography given their proximity to each other in Renfrewshire. Both Filshill and Iain Hill use the same IT and app suppliers which will make the transition easier.
“I have known Iain Hill and his wife, Aileen, for many years and they are excellent operators with a strong and loyal customer base and an exceptional team of employees who we are looking forward to welcoming to the Filshill family and who will benefit from career progression opportunities in the future.”
He said: “Iain Hill’s customers will benefit from a more extensive product range including fresh, chilled, alcohol and al grocery offer – our business development managers and their teams will work closely with those customers to help them develop their businesses.
“As we prepare to move to our new headquarters, having Iain Hill’s experienced staff and assets, including modern HGVs, puts us in an excellent position to hit the ground running and expand our customer base.”
Iain Hill, managing director of Iain Hill Ltd, who launched his business from his parents’ garage 32 years ago, said: “There’s a great synergy between the two businesses and the most important thing for me is that my staff will be moving to a like-minded independent, family-owned business that takes a people first approach."
READ MORE: Surge in local shopping boosts Filshill
He went on: “After 32 years in the industry, is the right time for me to exit the business and give my staff, most of whom have been with me many years, the opportunity to work in a purpose-built, state-of-the-art distribution hub that will be just three miles from Linwood. For my customers, the number of food and drink lines available to them increases from 1,200 to 6,500 overnight so it a great opportunity for them to reassess their businesses and plan for growth.”
Filshill, a fifth-generation business, saw turnover soar to £191 million – up 23% from £155m – in the year ending January 31, 2021.
The business was founded in Glasgow in 1875 and supplies KeyStore retail outlets across Scotland and the north of England, national accounts including the Scottish Prison Service. It also has 1,600 independent customers.
Unaudited abridged financial accounts for Iain Hill showed net assets of £2.4m at year end March 31, 2022. Both JW Filshill and KeyStore have been ranked number one by suppliers in the respected independent Advantage Group Report.
JW Filshill has a raft of prestigious awards under its belt and last year was named Most Outstanding Business of the Year at the Glasgow Business Awards. It secured the accolade – the most prestigious of the evening – alongside the awards for Family Business of the Year and Health and Wellbeing at the awards which had The Herald as media partner.
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 here