The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Signs all good for firm saved from closure
When a customer heard the owner of a 20-year-old Fife signage company planned to shut, he decided to take on the business.
Piers Rickard had used the Glenrothes firm to make designs for his company, Crow Mountain Bike.
When he visited the shop in May 2020, owner Jim McManus said he would be closing.
But rather than see the business shut for good, Mr Rickard stepped in.
He said: “I spoke to the owner and he said he was planning to close. I have another business and they did some work for me.
“When I was in picking up an order, the then owner said that would be the last because he was closing.
“His wife also runs a business and he said he couldn’t do both.
“He’d offered the business to his staff but they did not want to take it on, so I said I’d buy it.”
Despite difficult trading circumstances due to Covid and lockdowns, the business has boomed with turnover doubling.
In May last year, the company, Sapphire Signs, relocated to premises at Newark Road South in Glenrothes, more than doubling the size of the production facility.
“We got to the point where business was backing up and lead times for delivery were growing due to the limited space we had,” Mr Rickard said.
“We started to offer additional services. Before, we could only fit one vehicle in the previous workshop.
“The preparation area is now the same size as the whole of the old unit.
“We can have up to four vehicles in at any one time, so we’ve more than doubled the space.”
There have been various challenges along the way, including adding to the team.
But two years on, the new owner is reaping the rewards of deciding to take on the business.
“I’ve never worked so hard in all my life,” Mr Rickard said.
“It has been very challenging, but I think anyone who runs a business will know that.
“Staffing is always the hardest part of the business, but the team I have are absolutely brilliant.”
As a client of Business Gateway Fife, Mr Rickard was able to access funding to invest in new machinery, including a grant to buy new computer hardware.
His HR adviser, Catherine Bartle, said: “Piers has made rapid progress over the last few months and has already secured four new employees.
“We were able to help him access funding opportunities to continue to invest in the operations for the new vehicle wrapping and graphics service.”