THE Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company has acquired rival business Caithness Glass for an undisclosed sum from receivers Deloitte.
The deal, first revealed by the Sunday Herald last week, will see a significant number of Caithness Glass’s 112 remaining employees, who are based in Perth and King’s Lynn, retain their jobs.
Late on Friday, Deloitte’s insolvency specialists John Reid and Andy Peters confirmed the sale of the business and assets of Caithness Glass’s Perth and King’s Lynn sites to Edinburgh Crystal. “The sale secures the future of the Perth and King’s Lynn sites and brings together two of Scotland’s leading giftware brands,” said Reid.
Deloitte had earlier shut down Caithnes Glass’ Wick plant with the loss of 50 jobs.
Caithness Glass and Edinburgh Crystal both loss-making
Caithness Glass, which last year made losses of £1 million on sales of £8m, was founded by Viscount Thurso in Wick in 1961, and is known for its paperweights and the trophy presented to the winner of the BBC’s Mastermind programme. But the company, founded in the 1950s, went into receivership in February because of a combination of dated designs, deteriorating market conditions and rival cheap imports from the Czech Republic.
Alastair Ritchie, chairman of Edinburgh Crystal, said: “This acquisition brings together two of the best-known Scottish giftware brands. They are complimentary, not competitors. We have a distribution network to which Caithness Glass previously did not have access — and that should enable us to increase its presence in the market.” He declined to comment on plans for rationalisation or redundancies.
Founded in 1867, Edinburgh Crystal is owned by the Cayzer family’s investment trust Caledonia Investments. Edinburgh Crystal employs 350 staff and last year made losses of over £1m on sales of £17.5m. Its factory, warehouse and visitor centre are in Penicuik but some of these are moving to Straiton. Edinburgh Crystal failed to buy Caithness Glass in 2001. It went instead to Royal Worcester & Spode in a near £7m deal.
This article was published in the Sunday Herald on 4 April 2004