The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Company aims for US success
Expansion: Business hopes to increase sales abroad after Mother’s Day surge
A company making luxury skincare products from Hebridean seaweed has set its sights on the American spa market as part of ambitious growth plans.
Lewis-based Hebridean Spa hopes to create at least five new jobs through increased sales of its ishga brand in the UK and abroad.
Working to meet a spike in orders ahead of this Sunday’s Mother’s Day, the company has secured an invoice finance facility from Bank of Scotland to back its expansion.
The business, which employs 10 people, hand harvests the seaweed and processes it on the island. The skincare products are created by combining the dried, milled seaweed with spring water.
Launched in 2011, the ishga range is supplied to spas and hotels and shops across Scotland and exported to China and the Netherlands.
The finance arrangement, which provides firms with working capital by releasing up to 90% of the value of their invoices, will be used to break into new export markets, including the United States. It will also help fund recruitment and equipment for the company’s production line.
Hebridean Spa founder and director Malcolm Macrae said: “In 2016, our turnover increased by 25% and we are continuing to grow at a fast rate.
“The team at Bank of Scotland shares our enthusiasm for growing our business and have taken the time to tailor a financial facility that is turning our ambitions into a reality.”
In the run-in to Mother’s Day, the firm projected a 300% increase in online orders for its products.