Mowi Scotland (formerly Marine Harvest Scotland) was the best performing seafood business in the list, moving up 12 places to be named 31st in Scottish Business Insider’s Top500 (2019), while its processing arm came in at 116th - up from 364th.
They were joined by a number of other salmon producing firms – Scottish Sea Farms moved up one place to reach 48th, The Scottish Salmon Company made 63rd (up from 366) and Loch Duart shot up to 277th (the first time it’s made the Top 500). Meanwhile feed producer EWOS was ranked 73rd (up from 113) and processors Farne Salmon and AquaScot came in at 176th (up from 184) and 284th (up from 299) respectively.
“We are pleased to be recognised amongst other major employers and businesses so integral to the economy and social fabric of Scotland,” says Ben Hadfield, managing director of Mowi Scotland.
“Perhaps even more impressive, and often forgotten, is that most of our economic activity takes place in some of the most remote regions of Scotland’s Island and Highlands.”
Mowi Scotland employs 1,250 people within its fully-integrated value-chain that includes feed milling, farming, processing and sales.
Bertil Buysse, managing director for Mowi Value-Added Products UK, stated: “Since opening our doors in 2015, we have seen our business performance grow year after year. The last year saw our fresh salmon productivity increase 15% over 2017. We’re currently supplying product to Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl from our Rosyth plant and will be pursuing additional supply opportunities in 2019.”
Criteria
The Scottish Business Insider’s Top500 brands itself as “the most authoritative listing of the country’s biggest and most successful companies. To qualify for a listing, each company must be headquartered in Scotland or be a substantial subsidiary of a foreign owned company with its financial results published separately and have a turnover of £20m+. Each company is ranked firstly by turnover, then profit before the rankings are combined, divided by two and weighted by turnover.”
