ABOUT 800 jobs have been protected at 52 Optical Express stores in Scotland after the optician's owner agreed to pay off its debt to Royal Bank of Scotland.
Chairman David Moulsdale, who founded the group in 1991, hopes to complete a deal with the bank today that will effectively safeguard the Cumbernauld-based firm's future, after reporting positive talks.
A spokesman said Mr Moulsdale, whose board at Optical Express includes former First Minister Jack McConnell, has made a multi-million-pound investment in the business that protects jobs and positions it for growth unencumbered by any debt.
The investment was made as a report claimed the chain, which employs 1800 staff across 93 stores and 54 consultation centres, was on the brink of administration before Mr Moulsdale's move. It was reported RBS was preparing to call in its debt, said to be worth more than £30m, and sell the company on to new investors after Optical Express had approached it for further funds to pay staff.
A spokesman for Mr Moulsdale said the businessman would not comment on media speculation.
He said: "We have been in positive discussions for some time with RBS and have reached an amicable agreement on a deal that will secure the long-term future and expansion of the Optical Express Group. David has agreed to acquire the entire debt owed to RBS by Optical Express and will inject significant working capital into the group, positioning it in a highly secure position for continued growth."
Optical Express expanded rapidly through a series of acquisitions after it was set up by Mr Moulsdale, diversifying from optometry into laser eye surgery and private dentistry.
However, more recently it has been affected by the downturn in consumer spending. Trade at high-street stores has been affected by competition from shopping centres.
Those conditions saw it put a subsidiary formerly known as Optical Express (Southern) into administration in October as part of a restructuring that saw it close 40 stores – three in Scotland.
At the time Mr Moulsdale said the changes left the company "in a position of strength to go forward and grow our business in these tough economic times".
The process left Optical Express with a portfolio of 130 stores, 55 north of the Border. The portfolio now stands at 52 in Scotland.
A source close to the business questioned why RBS had been prepared to take a "massive haircut" on the Optical Express debt, claiming it has accepted just 20p in the pound from Mr Moulsdale.
The source said: "I fail to understand, with RBS in the public eye, [why it] would allow the debt to be written off at such a level".
Neither Mr Moulsdale nor RBS would comment on how much was paid to buy out the debt.
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