ARRAN Aromatics is in line to achieve a second successive year in the black under the management team that led the company back from the brink of collapse, and helped by a record order from a Saudi Arabian retailer.
While conditions are tough on the UK's high streets, executive chairman Iain Pittman said the company hoped to match the performance it achieved in the year to February when it returned to profit after a long period in the red.
The company, which makes soaps and fragrances on the eponymous island, made a pre-tax profit of £122,812 in the year to February 2012, compared with a loss of £19,319 the preceding year.
Mr Pittman expects Arran Aromatics to maintain profits in the current year if it performs on plan in the key Christmas sales period.
Export markets have been "lumpy", although Arran recently won an order worth around £250,000 to supply products to a Saudi Arabian retailer with 350 outlets in the Middle East.
"This is the biggest order we have had anywhere and the first in what we hope will be a long-term relationship with the company," said Mr Pittman.
He added: "Hotels are running very well for us. The fact our products are at the luxury end, that's been fairly resilient."
The company's customer base includes the plush Cameron House hotel by Loch Lomond.
Arran Aromatics is also in talks regarding a potential contract to supply products – ranging from toiletries to fabric softener – to a prestige hotel operation based in London.
The recent success caps a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of Arran Aromatics, which was founded by Iain and Janet Russell in 1988. Mr Pittman took charge in February 2009, a month after HMRC lodged a petition to wind up the company in respect of £180,000 underpaid payroll taxes.
After leading a programme to focus on profitable lines and to increase production efficiency, Mr Pittman believes the company has been restored to a stable footing.
He said the company had met all the obligations inherited when he took charge.
Arran Aromatics, which has 10 outlets, has used new store openings to help maintain annual turnover at around £5.2 million in the face of the slowdown in consumer spending.
The company opened a store in the Silverburn centre in Glasgow on Saturday.
The downturn has created opportunities for retailers to acquire property at cheaper rates than they would have had to pay during the boom years of the past decade.
Growth in sales from the company's outlets has helped compensate for challenging conditions in the market to supply independent retailers such as gift shops.
The company employs 51 people on Arran, out of a total workforce of 111.
Mr Pittman is confident the appeal of the company's brand and product range provide the foundation for a business that could enjoy enduring success.
After beefing up the marketing function, Mr Pittman is working on plans to capitalise on the appeal of the Arran brand among members of the Scottish diaspora overseas.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article