GLASGOW-BASED funeral director Anderson Maguire has responded to rising competition in the market by making a series of investments.

The company, which this week won The Herald Scottish Family Business of the Year award in the small/medium category, has invested £1.3 million to upgrade its vehicle fleet to help meet the challenge brought by UK-wider operators and a growing number of independents.

That has seen the company switch to Jaguar cars from Mercedes to distinguish Anderson Maguire from its competitors.

Other recent investments have seen Anderson Maguire, formed by chairman Dom Maguire in 1982, spend £80,000 to install a new embalming centre at its premises in Hamilton Street, Glasgow, and return to television advertising.

Mr Maguire said the company is reacting to growing competition in the market, including in the sale of funeral plans where national players are competing aggressively. And he said a flurry of independents had moved into the market, estimating that there are now 11 more funeral directors in the city than there were five years ago. Many were set up by directors after careers with major companies.

Another factor which weighed on turnover last year was the decline in the death rate in Scotland

But Mr Maguire is confident the measures Anderson Maguire, which has 10 branches in the Glasgow area, has put in place will allow it to overcome the new market conditions. He said: “We want to be seen as the firm that sets the standard for other funeral directors to aspire to.”