A long, hot summer has led to a sales boom and profits increase for major Perthshire employer Highland Spring.
The Blackford business sold more than 500 million litres of water last year.
Turnover surged to £113.1 million last year from £94.1m in 2021, with pre-tax profit more than doubling to £1.5m.
The rise in sales has been credited to the particularly warm summer last year.
Perthshire investments by Highland Spring
The company employs 400 staff across its three production sites at Blackford, Lennoxtown and Swansea.
A new rail freight facility in Blackford – developed in partnership with Transport Scotland, Network Rail and the Scottish Government – was completed and commissioned last year at a cost of £20m.
This means 40% of the water supplied from the group’s main bottling plant in Blackford will now be transported by rail. This removes 8,000 HGV movements from the roads, and saves 3,200 tonnes of CO2 every year.
Last year also saw the second full year of sales of its flavoured cans and new multi-packs of water.
‘Strength and resilience’
Highland Spring saw its bottled water sales fall dramatically during the pandemic as more people stayed at home.
Last year they exceeded pre-Covid levels in spite of a challenging trading environment and inflationary pressures. The volume of water sold in the UK was up 2.9% on 2021.
Simon Oldham, managing director of Highland Spring Group, said: “The experience of the last three years has demonstrated the strength and resilience of the Highland Spring business and brand.
“I am proud of our robust performance against a backdrop of challenging market conditions.
“Our focus on environmental sustainability, which has been at the heart of our business for over 40 years, continues at pace, as we implement and explore opportunities to reduce our carbon.
“I remain confident in our long-term strategy of promoting the provenance of our brand, providing category leading expertise, focusing on environmental sustainability and contributing to overall value creation.”
Conversation