£550k Loan Fund deal helps boost Booth Welsh
Minister for Enterprise visits engineering firm to celebrate success
Ayrshire-based engineering services business Booth Welsh recently welcomed Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise Fergus Ewing to its Stevenston facility, where he learned about the company’s recent business successes and the support it has received from Scottish Enterprise (SE) and the Scottish Loan Fund (SLF).
SE has been working with Booth Welsh for a number of years, providing support through graduate placement, specialist advice, trade missions and other account management services. Recently, the company benefited from a £550,000 deal, with a commitment of funding up to £1.15m, through the SLF, in which SE is a cornerstone investor.
Managing director Martin Welsh said: “The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have helped smooth the path for us as we continue to increase our exports and diversify our client base. Their continued support will be invaluable as we push forward with our growth strategy across a range of defined market sectors.”
Booth Welsh currently employs 200 staff from its base in Stevenston, providing advanced process control systems and engineering solutions for a range of clients in the oil and gas, whisky, pharmaceutical, nuclear, petrochemical and chemical, utilities and food and beverage industries, including GlaxoSmithKline, British Energy (EDF), Veolia, Novartis, DSM, Nestle, Diageo and BP.
It operates across the UK and in international locations including Brazil, Singapore and Angola, and is a market leader in the provision of process consultancy, engineering and design, project management, implementation and commissioning.
Recent business wins have included two major projects in the Middle East utilities sector, which will see the company design new control systems for plants in Saudi Arabia.
Kerry Sharp, acting head of the Scottish Investment Bank at Scottish Enterprise, said: “We’re very pleased to see Booth Welsh extending their international reach and operations. They are the kind of company we’re here to help: focused, ambitious and with both the desire and the capacity for growth. We look forward to continuing to work with them as they seek to extend that growth even further.”
Booth Welsh is an engineering services company based in Ayrshire, Scotland. Operating globally, providing services to blue chip clients across a broad spectrum of business and industry, Booth Welsh is a market leader in the provision of process control systems, consultancy, engineering and design, project management, implementation and commissioning. It also specialises in providing instrument, control and electrical engineering including configuration, installation, maintenance and renewal of control engineering systems. Booth Welsh employs over 200 personnel and has a track record in providing tailor-made, cost effective and flexible solutions for clients in the oil & gas, pharmaceutical, nuclear, petrochemical and chemical, utilities and food & beverage industries.
Scottish Enterprise is Scotland's main economic development agency and aims to deliver a significant, lasting effect on the Scottish economy. Our role is to help identify and exploit the best opportunities for economic growth. We support ambitious Scottish companies to compete within the global marketplace and help build Scotland’s globally competitive sectors. We also work with a range of partners in the public and private sectors to attract new investment to Scotland and to help create a world-class business environment.
The Scottish Investment Bank is a division of Scottish Enterprise operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It manages a suite of funds including the Scottish Seed Fund; the Scottish Co-investment Fund; the Scottish Venture Fund; the Scottish Plastics Loan Fund and the Renewable Energy Investment Fund. SIB is also the cornerstone investor in the privately-managed Scottish Loan Fund. These support Scotland’s SME funding market to ensure businesses with growth and export potential have adequate access to capital. SIB also provides a team of financial readiness specialists to help companies prepare for new investment and more easily access finance from the private sector.
In February 2011 Maven Capital Partners was selected as fund manager for the Scottish Loan Fund, which was established by the Scottish Investment Bank with £55 million cornerstone public sector funding from Scottish Enterprise (including a contribution from the European Regional Development Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise). Further investment from the private sector, including Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Clydesdale Bank, Santander, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund took the fund to its final size of £113 million. The Fund was set up to address the market need for finance by SMEs. It focuses on providing mezzanine loans to growth and export businesses with an annual turnover of more than £1 million.
For further information about Booth Welsh, contact:
Neil McDonald / neil.mcdonald@onlybeattie.com / 01698 787855
Jennifer Black/ jennifer.black@onlybeattie.com / 01698 787873