PERTHSHIRE water company Castle Water, which services businesses, charities and the public sector in Scotland and England, has acquired Ayr-based Cobalt Water, an independent supplier of water to business customers.

Cobalt will focus on customers in Scotland with its management and staff transferring to Castle, which claims to be the leading independent water retailer in the UK. John Reynolds, chief executive of Castle, said: “We recognised the professionalism and capability of Cobalt and when we reviewed options to increase the size of our Scottish business, Cobalt stood out as the best fit with our customer-focused approach.