Peterhead, Scotland-based company Thistle Seafoods has stepped forward to buy Dawnfresh Seafoods processing plant in Uddingston, saving 40 jobs.
The Scottish-owned family company Dawnfresh Seafoods, one of the United Kingdom’s largest processors and producers of fish and seafood, was placed into administration in February 2022.
At the time, administrators FRP Advisory secured the sale of Dawnfresh’s plant in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland to Lossie Seafoods, a subsidiary of Associated Seafoods – but its Uddingston facility was originally set to close without a buyer. But on Monday, 27 June, FRP announced it had secured the sale of the Uddingston plant to Thistle Seafoods for an undisclosed sum.
The site spans more than 100,000 square feet, and includes a large industrial unit with processing, warehousing, administration, and cold-storage facilities. Thistle Seafoods said it plans to develop Uddingston into an advanced value-added seafood processing and distribution center with ready access to retail and wholesale customers, and markets in the United Kingdom, E.U., and further afield. The facility will complement Thistle’s processing facilities in Peterhead, which supplies seafood products to customers throughout the world.
FRP Advisory Partner Callum Carmichael said the firm was delighted to achieve a sale to Thistle Seafoods, which was “very well-placed” to integrate the site and facilities into its own fast-growing business.
“It is also particularly rewarding that the deal also includes the transfer of 40 employees,” Carmichael said. “We wish Thistle Seafoods every success with their acquisition and with their plans to develop and grow the business.”
Thistle Seafoods is a value-added processor of seafood products such as fish cakes, battered fish, and hot seafood appetizers, with 90 percent of its business within the U.K. It works with a variety of species, including Scottish salmon, cod, haddock, shrimp, scallops, tuna, and pangasius, and sells to Aldi in the U.S. and Loblaws in Canada.
Thistle Seafoods Managing Director Ryan Scatterty called the acquisition “an ideal fit” for the business, as it will provide a strategic processing, storage, and distribution hub to better serve its domestic customers.
“It will also allow us to further expand our product offering and capitalize on our fast-growing export markets. We are delighted to welcome an extra 40 staff to our business and plan to recruit further this year as we build our business,” Scatterty said.
Dawnfresh Farming, which operates seven fish farms in Scotland and Northern Ireland, continues to trade solvently. This business will be formally marketed for sale in the coming months, FRP advised.
Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Uddingston, near Glasgow, Dawnfresh was producing around 10,000 metric tons (MT) of seafood a year across 350 product lines – mainly supplied to the retail trade.
Photo courtesy of Dawnfresh Seafoods/Twitter
