VENERABLE Glasgow printer John Watson & Company achieved a surge in profits to a record level in the last full financial year before it was taken over by US giant Multi-Color Corporation, its latest accounts have revealed.
Profits were boosted by increased printing of sophisticated tube and box wraps for upmarket Scotch whisky, and by tight control of costs.
The accounts, filed with Companies House, show that John Watson & Company achieved a near-trebling of pre-tax profits to £788,023 in the year to March 31, from £278,070 in the prior 12 months. This leap in profits was achieved in spite of a dip in turnover to £10.3 million, from £10.9m.
Printing industry survivor John Watson, who transferred ownership of the firm to Ohio-based MCC on October 1 in a "serious multi-million-pound deal", said of the results: "I am delighted. This is me getting out at the top - not just at the top but at the pinnacle of the top. The company has never been more profitable, has never traded better."
He added: "The Americans, Multi-Color Corporation, they are delighted with their purchase as well. They can take it on to be a truly global player now."
John Watson & Company prints about 25 million labels each week, the bulk of them for the Scotch whisky sector.
Mr Watson noted that box and tube wraps for premium drinks had accounted for about 32% of overall turnover in the 12 months to March. He said this was about double the proportion in the prior financial year.
He declared that much of the company's success in the year to March 31 could be attributed to the continued worldwide premiumisation of the Scotch whisky industry, noting that customers included Pernod Ricard, Morrison Bowmore, Diageo, Edrington, and Angus Dundee.
John Watson & Company revealed in December 2010 that it was ending a relationship with Royal Bank of Scotland which dated back more than 185 years because it was unable to secure funding for ambitious expansion plans from the state-backed institution.
The firm moved to Clydesdale Bank, which backed John Watson & Company's investment in a new self-adhesive label press.
Mr Watson noted that Clydesdale Bank had been paid back in full, following the sale of the company.
Commenting on the printing firm's latest results, Mr Watson said: "Royal Bank must be ruing the day they said they didn't want to support John Watson & Company, with figures like these, getting out at the top, the absolute pinnacle of your career."
Asked about what had been done on the cost-control side, Mr Watson said the company had bought better, reduced waste and increased its recycling, while focusing on efficiency in its manufacturing process.
Commenting on the firm's expertise in printing tube and box wraps, he said: "It is printing that requires great skills. It has got to be foiled, embossed, (it is) very intricate work, and it is work a lot of people wouldn't touch."
Mr Watson noted that MCC continued to operate from the existing John Watson & Company base at Port Dundas, and had taken a three-year lease on the hi-tech plant.
He said the workforce had been maintained at 84, with no redundancies following the purchase by MCC.
Mr Watson said in October that he had absolutely no regrets about not passing on ownership of John Watson & Company to the sixth generation of the family.
He revealed that sons Angus and Sandy, employees in the business, had not even known the firm was to be sold to MCC until about a week before the deal was announced because he had been bound by confidentiality agreements.
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