£37M CITY JOBS BOOST
Superglass expansion
A £37m investment in a Stirling manufacturing plant will bring about 20 new jobs and the redevelopment of its Springkerse site.
The annual production capacity of glass wool at Superglass in the Thistle Industrial Estate is also set to double from 30,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes.
Superglass was bought last year by Russian businessman Sergey Kolesnikov, who owns construction materials manufacturer Technonicol, in an £8.7m takeover.
The Stirling firm’s boss Ken Munro, who became chief executive of Technonicol UK, Ireland and USA, said the investment is a vote of confidence in Scottish manufacturing, the expertise of the Stirling workforce and the high quality of their work.
He said: “With this investment we will have spent close to £50m on this site since the acquisition of Superglass and this is a further statement of intent regarding the long-term future of our Stirling operations.
“By our estimations it’s also one of the biggest single inward investments made in Scotland’s manufacturing sector for a long time.
“It’s an exciting time for the business. We’ve got significant growth ambitions and this investment will certainly help propel us towards achieving those goals.”
The new full-time jobs will be created over the next 18 months to meet the increased capacity. They are expected to be across the whole Stirling operation but primarily in the operations team, marketing and innovation.
Superglass had been facing an uncertain future after the Westminster government changed its policy on offering householders incentives to insulate their homes.
Mr Kolesnikov’s interest in Superglass followed a turnaround in company fortunes.
Mr Munro said this week that losses had been turned into a £10m improvement in profitability over the last three years and he pointed to “significant double-digit sales growth in the current year”.
He explained: “We have recently implemented a new strategy.
“There has been solid profitability in the last year with commercially resilient revenue streams.
“The domestic market had been struggling for a while. However, there is a significant export market all over Europe and there has been significant growth in exports over the last few months.
“But the domestic and export markets go hand in hand.”
Mr Munro also said he did not anticipate that Brexit would significantly affect the business. He explained: “In the medium term the weak pound has benefited our business.
“What we are looking for is a measure of certainty and clarity.
“We do not see our business highly impacted by Brexit. The vast majority of our products are being sold into the UK domestic market.”
Nevertheless Superglass, Mr Munro added, aims to develop a wider export business over the next few years including “greater opportunities in Europe”.
Pointing to Superglass’s recent sustainable growth agreement with SEPA, Stirling East councillor Chris Kane said: “This industrial site in the heart of Stirling has been on a journey in recent years.
“Superglass has shown that there is a better way and I hope other businesses follow their lead.
“This is a massive boost of confidence in Stirling and what is really exciting is that Superglass are demonstrating that environmental leadership can create jobs and grow businesses.”
Cabinet secretary for the economy Keith Brown said the investment “rightly shows real confidence in the highly-skilled Scottish workforce”.
He added: “It will help position the Stirling site to take advantage of greater opportunities in the future and will also help to deliver significant environmental benefits”.
Substantial building work is expected to begin on the Thistle Industrial Estate site in the new year to accommodate production equipment, including a 187-tonne furnace and curing ovens.
Cooling, cutting and milling equipment will be replaced and an automatic packing system will be installed.
Scottish Enterprise has backed Superglass’s expansion and committed £477,000 towards the project.
Its director of innovation and enterprise services Jim Watson said: “Recognising the importance and strength of its Stirling site, together with our contribution, Superglass has successfully secured the investment needed from its Cyprus-based parent company.
“As well as bringing new jobs and investment to Scotland this project will also help improve efficiencies in its manufacturing processes and open up new European markets and potentially future research and development activities. I look forward to continuing to work with the company and wish it every success for the future.”