IT started out as just one man making creels on the Isle of Lewis, but now Inverness-based marine chandlers and supplier Gael Force has launched a significant growth plan with the acquisition of Forres-based Varis Engineering.
Varis focuses on the design, manufacture and installation of pontoons, marinas, access bridges and services, as well as new and refurbishment works in distilleries and waste-water treatment works.
Gael Force says it plans to grow Varis's 30-strong workforce, and that the deal will enhance its own drive to build sales from £15 million to £50m in the next five years, with further growth envisaged longer term.
The acquisition further expands Gael Force's capabilities in marine floating infrastructure. The engineering arm of the company has developed from designing and fabricating concrete caisson feed barges for fish farms along with specialist mooring services.
It is also focusing on expanding into the wave and tidal energy industries as well as building pontoons for marinas, harbours and a range of floating homes.
It is another major milestone for Gael Force, which has grown into a multi-faceted, marine supply business serving markets throughout the UK, Europe and North America in fish farming, fishing, offshore renewables and the oil and gas industry.
The Gael Force Group employs 180 staff at bases in Stornoway, Inverness, Forres and Plymouth.
Current combined Gael Force/Varis engineering sales are worth about £10m and the aim is to double that by 2017 by increasing activity in offshore oil-related fabrication, renewable energy work and pontoon sales.
Gael Force will also provide additional resources to develop business in maintenance programmes for whisky distilleries in Scotland as well as waste-water treatment work.
Stewart Graham, Gael Force Group's founder and managing director, said: "Varis and its product have been in our sights for quite some time. The Gael Force management has plotted a course of aggressive growth over the next five years across the group to a level of £50m and this acquisition of Varis takes us a significant step towards that."
Eddie Tomkinson, retiring managing director of Varis, added: "After 17 years of building up Varis, it was important to me that we found a new owner who can secure the company's future in Forres, provide additional resources to expand on our achievements to date and drive the company forward."
Gael Force also wants to develop marine equipment sales at its Inverness megastore and online shop, with plans to open two or three more outlets in the UK over the next five years.
In 2011, Mr Graham completed a round-the-world single-handed sail. The epic voyage had taken him two years – including time to recover from a broken back he sustained on the trip.
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