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Investors circling the food and drink industry

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By Derek Mair, partner and head of food and drink at Anderson Anderson & Brown

Ambition 2030 is the national drive to double the value of Scotland’s food and drink industry to £30 billion by 2030.

Scottish food and drink exports were worth about ÂŁ6bn last year, nearly ÂŁ570m more than 2016.

Revenue growth is being pursued from sales throughout the UK and internationally.

Derek Mair

Fish and seafood accounted for a majority of food exports last year as the overall total climbed to an all-time high in 2017.

The seafood sector will continue to play a key part in helping to achieve the Ambition 2030 target.

Hailing the export success of this country’s food and drink firms, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said it was driven by “world-renowned Scottish goods like salmon” being consumed at record levels around the world.

But the seafood industry in Scotland is also facing many challenges, including the uncertainty of Brexit.

It is struggling to recruit and retain industry leaders of the future, while profit margins remain low across the sector.

There is also a need for investment in machinery to increase productivity and innovation, and for continued spending on infrastructure to maintain connectivity between markets and air freight links.

Despite the political and economic uncertainty of Brexit, we have experienced an increase in mergers and acquisitions activity in the industry and in particular investment from overseas players looking to establish a presence in Scotland.

We believe the trend of overseas investors continuing to look for investment opportunities to secure their future supply of premium Scottish seafood will continue.

One example of this is the £98.4m acquisition of Macduff Shellfish Group, one of Europe’s leading wild-caught shellfish processors, based in Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, by Canadian publicly-listed outfit Clearwater Seafoods.

Another example is Estonia-based PR Foods’ £13m acquisition of a majority stake in John Ross Jr, a traditional smoked salmon business in Aberdeen.

If you are considering selling your business, here are a few tips.

Engage professional advisors who know the sector and do your due diligence on the purchaser before investing time in meetings.

Make sure any information you provide to a potential buyer is accurate as it may later be used as the basis for an offer.

Don’t succumb to the purchasers’ charm – it’s important to maintain an arm’s length relationship until the deal has completed.

Deal with potential stumbling blocks at the earliest opportunity – it can be too easy to ignore them and hope they go away.

Seek specialist advice to help you minimise tax and any associated risks.

Finally, make sure the transaction is completed within a reasonable timescale. Ask the buyer to produce a timetable detailing all key stages of the process up to completion. Monitor this closely as many transactions collapse due to deal fatigue.