There was good news last month for employees of a long-established Scottish family business in the form of a rescue deal which saw it bought out of administration.
All 32 jobs were saved after Graham Smith and Michelle Elliot of FRP Advisory, who had been appointed as joint administrators on September 10 last year and had continued to trade the business while a buyer was sought, sealed the deal.
They completed the sale of the business and assets of Christies (Fochabers), a nursery and tree-growing operation based at Arradoul near Buckie in Moray, to Alba Trees Limited, a specialist supplier of trees and hedging plants, on February 3.
In a statement after this sale was completed, the administrators highlighted the long history of the Christies (Fochabers) business and continuity for staff, customers and suppliers as a result of the sale to East Lothian-based Alba Trees.
They said: “For two centuries, Christies has been a trusted supplier to customers across Scotland. The family business invested significantly in its operations, including grading facilities, cold store refrigeration and modern agricultural equipment. The Arradoul site comprises a range of agricultural buildings, plant and machinery, tree stocks and associated land.
"The company experienced increasing cash-flow pressures in the period leading up to the appointment, which ultimately led to the decision to enter administration.
“As part of the transaction, all 32 employees have transferred to the new owner, ensuring continuity for staff, customers and suppliers."
The administrators added: "The acquisition will allow Alba Trees to supply in-house bare root production alongside its existing cell-grown offering, broaden its presence in restocking, new woodland creation and hedging stock. Alba will have the capability to serve new customers while deepening relationships with existing clients and provide a more resilient, flexible one-stop solution across stock types and planting needs.”
Mr Smith said: “By continuing to trade during the administration, we were able to preserve value and run a structured sale process, which has resulted in a positive outcome for all parties.
“We’re pleased to have secured a buyer in Alba Trees that has the expertise and scale to build on Christies’ heritage, and we would like to thank the staff and customers for their continued support throughout the process. We wish Alba Trees every success as it takes the business forward.”
The administrators observed that Alba Trees is the UK’s largest producer of cell-grown trees.
It was heartening to see a positive outcome from the administration process, given the importance of the business to staff, customers and suppliers as well as the long history.
Mr Smith described Christies as “a well-regarded business with deep roots in the local area and a strong reputation for quality”.
Elsewhere last month, it was great to see Sir Tom Hunter highlight what has been achieved at Prestwick Airport under the Scottish Government’s ownership.
As he made plain himself as he offered his compliments on this front, Sir Tom is not generally a fan of governments being involved in running businesses. And this made his remarks carry all the more weight.
Sir Tom offered his views on social media platform X, after flying into the airport.
He posted: “I usually say that the government shouldn't be involved in running businesses. But I take my hat off to the Scottish Government when it comes to Prestwick Airport. Last week when I landed there I was thrilled to hear about all of the job opportunities across engineering, security and warehousing.”
His comments included the broader aerospace cluster, and the major private companies operating there.
Sir Tom, whose West Coast Capital business is based at Dundonald in Ayrshire, highlighted his view that “those engineering jobs would have been lost” at Prestwick had the Scottish Government not rescued the airport.
The Scottish Government rescued Prestwick Airport in 2013, buying it for £1 from Infratil of New Zealand.
The aerospace cluster in and around Prestwick Airport employs thousands of people.
In a video accompanying his post on X, Sir Tom provided further details of his take on the Scottish Government’s ownership of Prestwick Airport.
He said: “I always say that the government shouldn’t be involved in running businesses but I take my hat off to the Scottish Government here because if you hadn’t saved Prestwick, the great jobs that are all round there: Spirit..., you have got jet engines being refurbished, you have got Ryanair doing their maintenance, those engineering jobs would have been lost. So I think Prestwick is a good success story and a rare example of the government stepping in.”
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In December, the airport reported its sixth consecutive annual profit. Its operating profit in the year to March 31, 2025, was £3.5 million, up by around £300,000 on the prior 12 months.
And Prestwick Airport had a highly positive update at that stage on the current financial year to March 2026.
As I observed in my column in The Herald last month on Sir Tom’s comments on Prestwick Airport: “Having written extensively on Prestwick Airport over years and decades, through ups and downs, it has been fantastic to see this great asset back on an upward trajectory in recent times.
“The tiresome moaning over the Scottish Government’s 2013 rescue of Prestwick Airport through a £1 purchase from Infratil of New Zealand - and the advancing of tens of millions of pounds of loans in the drive for future prosperity - has certainly diminished in volume as fortunes have improved.
“Perhaps not surprisingly given we live in demoralisingly polarised times politically, all the great news about Prestwick Airport still appears to irritate some. Personal political ideology, often seemingly including an intense dislike of the SNP Government, seems generally to be at the root of this continued carping.”
“This camp is hopefully diminishing in number as some realise they are on to plums with attempts to criticise what is clearly a success story and instead direct their ideological ire elsewhere.”
The column observed that “the fact of the matter is that the airport is thriving”.
It went on: “And it is difficult to see how anyone could, with a straight face, claim that it would have been better if Prestwick Airport had been allowed to close with the loss of a huge amount of employment both in terms of direct staff and jobs in the aerospace cluster in and around the airport.
“We should also remember all the tax revenues contributed since 2013 by those working in and around Prestwick Airport and their various employers.
“Against this backdrop, it was great this week to hear Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter praise what has been achieved at Prestwick Airport.”
Glasgow Airport was also in the news again, including with my exclusive story on high hopes for Emirates’ service to Dubai moving to double-daily.
Kam Jandu, chief executive of Glasgow Airport owner AGS Airports, declared that a return to a double-daily service is in the airline’s “roadmap” and highlighted the type of aircraft he expects to be used for a second flight.
Mr Jandu flagged demand for such a second daily flight to Dubai from Glasgow Airport and also underlined the potential for cargo, including seafood.
He highlighted plans for extending refrigeration capabilities at the cargo-handling facility at Glasgow Airport.
Mr Jandu had last April revealed the airport was in talks with Emirates about a return to a double-daily service, as reported exclusively by The Herald at the time.
He has now expressed his confidence that a second daily Emirates flight between Glasgow and Dubai would be operated on a Boeing 777, with the existing service remaining on the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
In an exclusive interview with The Herald several weeks ago, Mr Jandu expressed his confidence that Emirates is “coming back to double-daily” between Glasgow Airport and Dubai.
He added: “Our hope was [it] could happen from this winter, which, essentially, is November onwards, but they, to be clear, have never guaranteed that that's going to happen. Unfortunately, they have hundreds of airports around the world where they also have positive business cases to add capacity. So, I just don't know where we are in that pecking order.”
Mr Jandu also flagged “next year” as a possibility for when the second daily flight could be introduced.
This article was first published in The Herald's Business HQ Monthly supplement
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