By Ian McConnell
Business Editor
FORMER Johnstons of Elgin chief executive Simon Cotton and wife Clare have bought venerable, eighth-generation textiles business Macnaughton Holdings, founded in 1783.
Macnaughton, which makes and sells fabric for kilts and cloth for home interiors, has been bought in a deal completed last week from its founding family, with the main shareholders having been husband and wife Blair and Jan Macnaughton. The Macnaughton manufacturing and wholesale business, which also supplies sporrans to the Highlandwear market, employs about 80 people.
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The price paid for Macnaughton, which is based in Perth and has manufacturing sites at Paisley and in the Highland town of Keith, was not disclosed. However, it would seem likely to have been a multi-million-pound deal, with the latest Companies House filing showing Macnaughton Holdings had net assets of around £3.9 million at January 31 this year.
Mr Cotton, who stepped down from Johnstons of Elgin at the end of last year and now owns half of Macnaughton with his wife owning the other 50% of the business, highlighted ambitions to increase international sales.
He noted that the US was the biggest overseas market for Macnaughton, which exports Highlandwear and cloth for the likes of furniture upholstery and curtains. Mr Cotton said: “We see lots of international expansion and lots of product [development] opportunities as well, particularly in the home interiors side.”
Commenting on Macnaughton’s heritage, he said: “There is not that many [businesses] go on for eight generations of the same family.”
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Asked what had attracted him to the Macnaughton business, Mr Cotton said: “I have known the company for a long, long time. I have admired the company for a long, long time. They have a really good reputation for service.
“I knew they had been consistently performing really well and [were] looking for succession.”
Asked about current market conditions, Mr Cotton highlighted a boost to demand from the resumption of large-scale weddings in the wake of the lifting of coronavirus-related restrictions.
He said: “It is a very mixed picture out there. What is driving Highlandwear is there is a lot of people getting married now because they couldn’t do [big] weddings for the last couple of years. There is a lot of big weddings, which is driving sales of kilts and accessories.”
Asked about plans for the business and staff, he replied: “The company is doing very well at the moment. There is a good team, well-established. It is a continuation of the strategy, rather than a change in the business, and a continuation of the existing team.”
Mr Cotton added: “It is a very strong time for the company at the moment – probably a good time to come in.”
He flagged his view that, given the lack of venture capital interest in the sector, it was not always easy for companies to secure succession, even solid and high-performing ones such as Macnaughton.
Mr Cotton added: “I am happy from my side. I am also happy that a long-established company like this has managed to move on from one family to another family.”
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