Losses narrow at laundry specialist Fishers

SCOTTISH-based hotel laundry specialist Fishers narrowed its pre-tax losses to £3.026 million in 2012 from £3.491m in 2011 as turnover edged higher.

News from Fishers yesterday of the reduced losses came hard on the heels of the Fife-based company’s announcement late last month that it had refinanced its bank borrowings, and secured £5m of additional funding from majority shareholder Caird Capital to support growth plans.

Existing lender Lloyds Banking Group is providing £25m of new bank debt facilities on five-year terms as a result of the refinancing, which Fishers said yesterday had taken place in June “on improved terms”.

Managing director Bruce McHardy hailed the refinancing as a “new chapter in the Fishers story”.

A spokesman for Fishers and London-headquartered Caird noted, when this refinancing was unveiled late last month, that the Cuparbased company had reduced its bank debt. Bank borrowings had been nearly £28m previously, he noted.

Fishers said yesterday that, before finance charges and interest payments relating to its previous funding structure, it had achieved a rise in operating profits from £2.1m in 2011 to £2.9m in 2012. Turnover rose to £33.3m in 2012, from £32.1m in 2011.

Founded in 1900, Fishers provides laundry, linen rental and workwear hire services and cleanroom garments to customers in the hospitality, leisure, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals sectors in Scotland and the north of England.

Its employee numbers peak at more than 800, with hotel- r e l a t e d business having a seasonal nature.

Fishers said that its business from the hospitality sector grew by 4% in 2012. The company noted that this increase had been achieved in spite of the “well-publicised negative impact of the London 2012 Olympics on the UK hospitality industry”.

During 2012, Fishers raised its exposure to the UK cleanroom garments market by acquiring Livingstonbased Origin Cleanroom.