RAW HIDE GOING GLOBAL TALKING BUSINESS - ANM Group
RAW HIDE GOING GLOBAL TALKING BUSINESS - ANM Group
RAW HIDE GOING GLOBAL TALKING BUSINESS - ANM Group
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ISSUE 35 JULY 2011<br />
THE CORPORATE MAGAZINE OF <strong>ANM</strong> GROUP<br />
Journal<br />
PLUS<br />
Summer show<br />
& sale<br />
supplement<br />
<strong>RAW</strong> <strong>HIDE</strong><br />
<strong>ANM</strong> hides are destined to<br />
make some of the world’s<br />
most prestigious products<br />
<strong>GOING</strong> <strong>GLOBAL</strong><br />
Supreme quality products<br />
take Scotch Premier Meat<br />
onto the European stage<br />
<strong>TALKING</strong><br />
<strong>BUSINESS</strong><br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> chief executive<br />
Alan Craig sets his sights<br />
on the premier league
Contents<br />
JOURNAL MAGAZINE ~ JULY 2011<br />
04 GROUP NEWS<br />
A round-up of all the news from<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> and its companies<br />
08 STRUCTURE<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> now has a new operating<br />
structure. The Journal reports<br />
10 <strong>HIDE</strong> AND SLEEK<br />
Hides from Scotch Premier will be used<br />
to make top-quality leather products<br />
14 THE INTERVIEW<br />
<strong>Group</strong> chief executive Alan Craig<br />
talks business with David Cameron<br />
18 <strong>GOING</strong> <strong>GLOBAL</strong><br />
Quality meat from Inverurie is<br />
becoming renowned across Europe<br />
23 COMMERCIAL SUCCESS<br />
TSA has successfully handled its<br />
biggest-ever commercial sale<br />
26 LABOUR OF LOVE<br />
One family’s farming success without<br />
the Single Farm Payment<br />
29 POWER PLAY<br />
A&N Estates support one farmer’s<br />
wind farming ambitions<br />
32 NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE<br />
How to drive the best bargain when<br />
the time comes to sell up<br />
10<br />
14<br />
26<br />
Welcome to<br />
your new<br />
magazine from<br />
the <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> is changing and<br />
driving forward into a new era<br />
that we are confident will bring<br />
continued success to the company<br />
and to our members. So, to<br />
reflect this, we have refreshed our<br />
magazine, the Journal, with new<br />
content and a new look.<br />
Our aim is to inform, educate<br />
and entertain our members about<br />
all aspects of the business and how<br />
it is performing on their behalf.<br />
However, the magazine has also<br />
set itself the task of projecting our<br />
company to the widest possible<br />
audience of customers, suppliers,<br />
decision-makers and the media.<br />
By doing so, we hope that it<br />
will become a very positive and<br />
powerful communications tool as<br />
we move forward.<br />
In this edition you will be able<br />
to read about how <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
hides are being made into some<br />
of the world’s most prestigious<br />
products. And, among other<br />
things, just how far Scotch Premier<br />
Meat’s produce is reaching around<br />
the globe.<br />
Members will also be able to<br />
read a special supplement that will<br />
highlight all the news and results<br />
from recent shows and events.<br />
As ever, we will welcome your<br />
comments. Enjoy!<br />
Bob Dow, editor<br />
bob.dow@anmgroup.co.uk<br />
Who makes Journal tick?<br />
READ CHRIS’ PIECE ON OUR<br />
PARTNERSHIP WITH SLG PAGE 10<br />
DAVID CAMERON<br />
One time news editor of the The<br />
Scotman, this ex-journo is learning<br />
the difference between a Friesian<br />
and an Aberdeen Angus…fast!<br />
BOB DOW<br />
Now driving <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s<br />
communications, Bob Dow knows<br />
a thing or two about the rural<br />
community: he’s from Auchnagatt<br />
CHRIS FITZGERALD<br />
Chris Fitzgerald doesn’t own<br />
an Aston Martin but he now<br />
knows where the leather in his<br />
dream car comes from<br />
Journal is produced by Connect Communications (Scotland) Ltd on behalf of The <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>. www.connectcommunications.co.uk<br />
MAIN OFFICE <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>, Thainstone Centre, Inverurie AB51 5XZ. Editor: Bob Dow email: bob.dow@anmgroup.co.uk ADVERTISING Jane Deane Tel: 0131 561 0020<br />
email: jane@connect communications.co.uk The views expressed in Journal are those of invited contributors and not necessarily those of The <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>. The <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> does not<br />
endorse any goods or services advertised, nor any claims or representations made in any advertisement in Journal and accepts no liability to any person for loss or damage suffered as a<br />
consequence of their responding to, or placing reliance upon, any claim or representation made in any advertisement appearing in Journal. Readers should make appropriate enquiries<br />
and satisfy themselves before responding to any such advertisement, or placing reliance upon any such claim or representation. By so responding, or placing reliance, readers accept that<br />
they do so at their own risk. © The <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> 2011. ISSN: 1469-3054. Journal is printed on 100% recovered paper with FSC accreditation.<br />
JOURNAL 03
group news<br />
scotch premier meat<br />
SCOTCH PREMIER<br />
SIGNS NEW <strong>HIDE</strong>S<br />
DEAL WITH SLG<br />
13,000gns<br />
a new price<br />
record<br />
thainstone<br />
CHAMPION FIRST EDITION<br />
THE UK’S largest manufacturer of<br />
bovine leather is to buy hides from the<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> in an exciting new business<br />
partnership.<br />
The hides from Inverurie-based Scotch<br />
Premier Meat (SPM) will be supplied direct<br />
in their thousands to Scottish Leather<br />
<strong>Group</strong> (SLG).<br />
SPM has negotiated an excellent deal<br />
with SLG that will see the quality hides<br />
from Scotch Premier making their way<br />
south to the company’s tanneries and<br />
processing plants in the West of Scotland.<br />
Malcohm Hetherington, SPM’s general<br />
manager, explained: “The Meat Division<br />
processes tens of thousands of head of<br />
cattle a year. That means a lot of hides.<br />
“The value of the hides has been at its<br />
highest level for many years. So, it made<br />
a lot of sense for us to be doing business<br />
with SLG who are one of the UK’s top<br />
leather producers and so maximising our<br />
return from the fifth quarter.<br />
“We are all looking forward to a long<br />
and successful relationship with the team<br />
at SLG.”<br />
Gareth Scott, hide procurement manager<br />
at NCT, one of the SLG tanneries,<br />
explained that for today’s market, only the<br />
best hides would eventually get through the<br />
process. And this, he added, was where<br />
the quality of the Scotch Premier hides<br />
comes into its own.<br />
FIND OUT HOW WE’RE<br />
WORKING WITH SCOTTISH<br />
LEATHER GROUP PAGE 10<br />
04<br />
CHAMPION Charolais<br />
bull Inverlochy Edition<br />
proved to be a Thainstone<br />
record breaker at this<br />
year’s Spring Show.<br />
The 21-month-old<br />
animal, bred by father and<br />
son John and Raymond<br />
Irvine, of Inverlochy,<br />
Tomintoul, Banffshire, was<br />
sold for 13,000gns, a new<br />
price record for the<br />
Thainstone Centre<br />
at Inverurie.<br />
community<br />
DEBUT FOR NEW<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> SHOW VAN<br />
<strong>ANM</strong>’S SHOW VAN has been a regular<br />
feature around the agricultural shows of the<br />
North-East and Highlands for many years.<br />
But now the van, which has always<br />
drawn large crowds wherever it goes, has a<br />
completely new look.<br />
Bedecked in the new <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
livery, the van made its debut recently at<br />
“Scotland’s Beef Event”.<br />
Organised for the first time by the<br />
National Beef Association, it was staged in<br />
June at Corskie Farm, Garmouth, Moray,<br />
and opened by the BBC Countryfile<br />
presenter, Adam Henson.<br />
The show van was a huge success drawing<br />
hundreds of visitors throughout the day.<br />
He was bought by<br />
William Forbes, of<br />
Dalrachie Farm,<br />
Ballindalloch, Banffshire, at<br />
the pedigree cattle show<br />
and sale held by Aberdeen<br />
& Northern Marts at the<br />
Royal Northern Spring<br />
Show. The price paid beat<br />
the previous centre record<br />
of 10,000gns, set at last<br />
year’s Spring Show.<br />
The show had its<br />
biggest ever entry with<br />
138 bulls from across<br />
Scotland, underlining<br />
Thainstone’s growing<br />
reputation as a quality bull<br />
sale centre.<br />
Around 8000-people<br />
attended the Spring Show,<br />
which had a record 124<br />
trade stands, and is<br />
organised by the Royal<br />
Northern Agricultural<br />
Society.<br />
www.anmgroup.co.uk<br />
Proudly proclaiming the <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
message, the van acts as a focal point for the<br />
company’s staff to meet and greet members<br />
and others from the agricultural community.<br />
Inside, the van has a series of new<br />
information boards which tell the story of the<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> and all that it has to offer today.<br />
This year, the van will be visiting New<br />
Deer Show, Nairn Show, Turriff Show, Black<br />
Isle Show, Keith Show, Grantown-on-Spey<br />
Show and then Orkney County Show.<br />
JOURNAL
group news<br />
What would you like to tell us about? If you have a story email bob.dow@anmgroup.co.uk<br />
industry<br />
It’s time to tell the<br />
true meat story<br />
A MAJOR step change is needed<br />
in the way the meat industry<br />
promotes itself to the general<br />
public, according to the chief<br />
executive of <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>,<br />
Scotland’s largest farmers’<br />
cooperative.<br />
Alan Craig believes not nearly<br />
enough is being done to educate<br />
and inform consumers about how<br />
the calories on their plate are<br />
being delivered.<br />
And, in a frank interview in<br />
the Journal, the chief executive<br />
has challenged the “fraction of a<br />
minority” that question the ethics<br />
and practices of the meat industry<br />
to learn more about the facts<br />
before they criticise.<br />
“The viewing public is screaming<br />
out for more information and our<br />
industry needs to get back on the<br />
front foot, tell them about it and<br />
participate in the process. We<br />
need to educate and, to a degree<br />
entertain, the consumer as part<br />
of this process.”<br />
Alan Craig argues that <strong>ANM</strong><br />
<strong>Group</strong> is a key part of an essential<br />
industry whose products can be<br />
found in the refrigerators and<br />
cupboards of 97% of European<br />
households. Yet he, and his<br />
colleagues across the sector, are<br />
continually fighting a rear-guard<br />
war of attrition with a small<br />
number of people, most of whom<br />
are fighting for the wrong reasons<br />
“VIEWERS NO<br />
LONGER NEED TO<br />
BE WEANED INTO<br />
AGRICULTURE<br />
BY WATCHING<br />
‘STROKE THE<br />
DONKEY’ TYPES<br />
OF FARMS.”<br />
GROUP CE ALAN CRAIG<br />
or simply through a basic lack of<br />
knowledge.<br />
“There remains a void of<br />
ignorance in the wider population<br />
as to how food calories are<br />
delivered to our plates. The irony<br />
is that you couldn’t make up the<br />
‘food’ story, and the truth, without<br />
any embellishment, is fascinating.”<br />
The chief executive maintains<br />
that the irony of today’s situation is<br />
that while scientists and engineers<br />
could put a man on the Moon in<br />
1969 with less computer power<br />
and technology than is found in<br />
a Ford Fiesta today, nobody has<br />
been able to develop a programme<br />
for how the food and agriculture<br />
sector sells itself effectively to a<br />
sceptical general public.<br />
He maintains that the current<br />
crop of celebrity chefs and ruralbased<br />
television programme<br />
presenters are now getting very<br />
close to reality. And, he says, it is<br />
heartening to see early evening<br />
prime time slots now taken up by<br />
agri and food-based content.<br />
“Viewers no longer need to<br />
be weaned into agriculture by<br />
watching ‘stroke the donkey’<br />
types of farms; they are perfectly<br />
comfortable watching a vet being<br />
interviewed whilst being up to<br />
his armpit in an Aberdeen Angus<br />
cow’s uterus. We no longer need<br />
to allow the public to think beef<br />
olives are grown in greenhouses.”<br />
So, he says, it is time for<br />
all those connected with the<br />
industry to unify in search of a<br />
formula in which the public can<br />
be educated successfully on the<br />
true story that lies behind the<br />
meat on their plates.<br />
READ THE ENTIRE<br />
INTERVIEW WITH<br />
ALAN CRAIG PAGE 14<br />
charcuterie<br />
CHARCUTERIE COOKS UP<br />
A HEALTHY HAGGIS RECIPE<br />
A bit tasty: Skiers<br />
Fraser (left) and<br />
Alastair Mann share<br />
some healthy haggis<br />
with QMS<br />
ambassador and<br />
reigning Miss UK<br />
Katherine Brown<br />
A NEW healthy version of<br />
Scotland’s most famous national<br />
dish, the haggis, has been<br />
developed by <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s<br />
Charcuterie business.<br />
The firm worked with Quality<br />
Meat Scotland to come up with a<br />
haggis that is 70% lower in salt<br />
and 35% lower in saturated fat<br />
than a normal haggis.<br />
It was part of a project to<br />
produce healthy versions of eight<br />
traditional Scottish favourites<br />
without losing the flavour.<br />
Charcuterie general manager<br />
Malcolm Morrison and his team<br />
rose to the challenge at the<br />
company’s base at Twechar near<br />
Glasgow, working against a tight<br />
deadline. The end result was<br />
produced in time for Burns<br />
Night and is proving popular<br />
with the public.<br />
Carol McLaren of QMS said:<br />
“Charcuterie had some technical<br />
challenges which they overcame.<br />
We appreciated their efforts.”<br />
Malcolm Morrison added:<br />
“The team did a fantastic job.<br />
The philosophy behind it is to<br />
help make haggis an all-yearround<br />
dish for all age groups.”<br />
JOURNAL<br />
05
group news<br />
taste of grampian<br />
Foodies<br />
flock to<br />
Thainstone<br />
MORE THAN 12,000 people<br />
flocked to this year’s Taste of<br />
Grampian, one of Scotland’s<br />
biggest food festivals, at the<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> headquarters at<br />
Thainstone, Inverurie.<br />
The one-day event in June was a<br />
spectacular showcase for the best<br />
food and drink produce available<br />
north of the border, along with<br />
cookery demonstrations by top<br />
celebrity chefs.<br />
In its 12th year, the event,<br />
organised by <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>,<br />
Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish<br />
Enterprise, the Grampian Food<br />
Forum and the Press & Journal, is<br />
more popular than ever before.<br />
Simon Rimmer, who presents<br />
the BBC show Something for the<br />
Weekend, took part in a host of<br />
demonstrations, as did popular<br />
French chef Jean-Christophe<br />
Novelli, before the pair held<br />
a cooking duel refereed by<br />
another TV chef, Alan Coxon,<br />
with Simon narrowly winning the<br />
audience vote.<br />
Simon said: “This part of the<br />
Chefs in combat: TV’s Alan Coxon (centre) keeps rival chefs Simon Rimmer and<br />
Jean-Christophe Novelli apart at this year’s Taste of Grampian event<br />
world has access to magnificent<br />
beef and fantastic fish and this<br />
festival is a super way to show<br />
your food at its very best.”<br />
Scotland’s First Minister<br />
Alex Salmond dropped in by<br />
“THIS PART OF THE WORLD HAS ACCESS TO<br />
MAGNIFICENT BEEF AND FANTASTIC FISH<br />
AND THIS FESTIVAL IS A SUPER WAY TO<br />
SHOW YOUR FOOD AT ITS VERY BEST. ”<br />
SIMON RIMMER<br />
helicopter with chef Craig<br />
Wilson, of Eat on the Green at<br />
Udny, Aberdeenshire.<br />
He joined Craig for part of his<br />
challenge to fly round Scotland<br />
in a day, cooking in each city, to<br />
raise money for Monty’s Maggie<br />
Appeal and Breast Cancer Care.<br />
Taste of Grampian chairman<br />
Brian Pack said: “It was a<br />
marvellous day out for so many<br />
people and some of the stands<br />
were reporting incredible sales.”<br />
thainstone<br />
NEW FOCUS FOR HIGHLAND CUISINE<br />
THE <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> is<br />
implementing changes at its<br />
Highland Cuisine catering arm<br />
following a strategic review.<br />
Highland Cuisine is to<br />
concentrate its main business<br />
efforts at the Thainstone Centre,<br />
Inverurie, and will continue to<br />
provide its long-established<br />
outside catering service.<br />
Highland Cuisine operates<br />
the acclaimed Barn & Bushel<br />
restaurant at Thainstone along<br />
with the Gallery Restaurant<br />
and TC’s diner. It also provides<br />
catering for events at the<br />
Thainstone Exchange and will<br />
continue to build on its excellent<br />
reputation as a quality outside<br />
caterer for weddings and other<br />
major events.<br />
The strategic review has been<br />
carried out in conjunction with<br />
Stirling-based Inspire Catering and<br />
Inspire staff have been based at<br />
Thainstone during the appraisal.<br />
John Gregor of the <strong>ANM</strong><br />
<strong>Group</strong>, who has been in charge<br />
of the review, said: “We now<br />
have a clear vision on how to<br />
take the business forward and<br />
focus on what Highland Cuisine<br />
does best.<br />
“The Thainstone Exchange is a<br />
hugely popular venue, especially<br />
for its festive party nights, and we<br />
want to build on that success.”<br />
“There is a lot of work going<br />
on into developing the food<br />
offer here at Thainstone, not just<br />
for the Exchange but also our<br />
restaurants and I think, given time,<br />
everyone will be delighted by the<br />
changes we will introduce.”<br />
As a result of the review, the<br />
Caterhire business provided by<br />
Highland Cuisine, which hired out<br />
catering equipment to the trade,<br />
has been discontinued. All existing<br />
orders are being honoured.<br />
The two Harvesters sandwich<br />
premises in Aberdeen will<br />
not have their current leases<br />
renewed. Both premises will<br />
continue to operate as normal<br />
meantime and are currently being<br />
marketed with interest already<br />
being shown in the outlets.<br />
06<br />
JOURNAL
group news<br />
Scotch Premier Meat is going global. Find out where it’s products are headed on page 18<br />
tsa<br />
NEW CENTRAL BELT<br />
FACILITIES FOR TSA<br />
THAINSTONE Specialist Auctions (TSA)<br />
has opened a new office and storage facility<br />
at Blantyre, Glasgow, aimed at enhancing its<br />
service to clients throughout the Central Belt.<br />
The company, part of the <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>, has<br />
operated from a site at Kirknewton on the<br />
outskirts of Edinburgh for the past four years<br />
and at Livingston for two years before that.<br />
However, the growing demand for TSA’s<br />
services and the company’s commitment to<br />
growth has meant that moving to larger and<br />
more strategically placed premises was<br />
a necessity.<br />
Grant Rogerson, TSA’s general manager,<br />
explained: “We greatly appreciate the<br />
business that comes to us from our clients<br />
in the Central Belt. We believe that the new<br />
premises in Blantyre will allow us to continue<br />
to provide an efficient and cost effective<br />
service to them.”<br />
The general manager reckons that there<br />
is a real opportunity for TSA to grow its<br />
market share but in order to do so, it must<br />
continue to raise the bar on what it is able to<br />
offer and the level of service it provides.<br />
“I believe that with the team we have<br />
working from the Blantyre office, we will be<br />
able to do just that,” he said.<br />
The TSA staff based at Blantyre will<br />
include Les Reid, covering a wide area of<br />
Scotland, and George Beattie and James<br />
Scott, who will focus their attention on the<br />
Central Belt.<br />
“We have three highly experienced<br />
members of our team now in Blantyre and<br />
charcuterie<br />
FIRST RETAIL RANGE<br />
HITS THE MARKET<br />
COOKED meat<br />
manufacturer Charcuterie<br />
has launched its first ever<br />
retail food range.<br />
The Scotch Premier<br />
range is a mouth-watering<br />
selection of black pudding,<br />
haggis and mini-breakfast<br />
packs aimed at the multiple<br />
retail market.<br />
They were developed by<br />
Charcuterie’s Twechar plant<br />
near Glasgow, using supplies<br />
from Scotch Premier Meat<br />
in Inverurie.<br />
The range includes sliced<br />
TSA General Manager, Grant Rogerson<br />
they are more than capable of supporting<br />
all our clients requirements,” Grant<br />
added. “They can be further supported, if<br />
necessary, by the team here at Thainstone.”<br />
The move to Blantyre and the office and<br />
storage space that has been leased is the<br />
first phase of development. As the business<br />
continues to grow, more space is available<br />
at the location as and when it is required.<br />
In addition, the company is not leaving<br />
the Kirknewton site entirely as they have<br />
retained space to provide a storage facility for<br />
clients in the Lothians and Borders regions.<br />
and individual black pudding<br />
and haggis along with minibreakfast<br />
packs containing<br />
sliced Lorne sausage, black<br />
pudding and white pudding.<br />
Both the black pudding<br />
and haggis recipes were<br />
developed by Charcuterie’s<br />
own in-house team.<br />
Malcolm Morrison,<br />
general manager at<br />
Charcuterie, said: “This<br />
range has fantastic tasting<br />
food and we are convinced<br />
that customers will love it.”<br />
meat division<br />
SHOW DEBUT<br />
FOR MEAT<br />
DIVISION<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s new Meat Division was<br />
unveiled recently at Britain’s biggest food<br />
and drink event, IFE 2011, at the ExCel<br />
exhibition centre in London.<br />
The company’s meat businesses have<br />
been integrated into one unit, which is<br />
already bringing benefits to the <strong>Group</strong>.<br />
Scotch Premier Meat, Yorkshire Premier<br />
Meat and Charcuterie are now using their<br />
combined strengths to trade together<br />
under an <strong>ANM</strong> Meat Division banner.<br />
While each business will still retain its<br />
own identity, they will have increased<br />
co-operation between each other to boost<br />
sales and raise the overall business profile.<br />
David Fleetwood, managing director of<br />
the new <strong>ANM</strong> Meat Division, said: “We now<br />
have a unique combination of expertise,<br />
experience and capacity which can meet<br />
customers’ requirements and offer value.”<br />
The new look Meat Division stand<br />
attracted a lot of attention during the IFE<br />
with hundreds of food buyers eager to<br />
sample the wares.<br />
David added: “We felt that the show<br />
was a great success for us. It took our new<br />
message out into our sector where it was<br />
very well received.”<br />
The change has also seen Malcohm<br />
Hetherington take over as general manager<br />
of Scotch Premier Meat’s two sites at<br />
Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.<br />
John Elliot is now general manger of<br />
the Yorkshire Premier Meat plant in<br />
Sheffield with Stirling Oswin taking over<br />
as general manager of the YPM site at<br />
South Kirkby.<br />
Malcolm Morrison remains general<br />
manager at Charcuterie at Twechar<br />
near Glasgow.<br />
JOURNAL 07
group news<br />
To read about TSA’s biggest ever commercial sale, turn to page 23<br />
structure<br />
Age of change<br />
SIGNIFICANT changes have<br />
been made to the operating<br />
structure of the <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> and<br />
its companies to help drive the<br />
business forward and improve<br />
overall performance.<br />
The company’s three meat<br />
businesses, Scotch Premier Meat,<br />
Yorkshire Premier Meat and<br />
Charcuterie, have been brought<br />
together under one umbrella as<br />
the <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> Meat Division.<br />
David Fleetwood is managing<br />
director of the division, having<br />
previously worked as group<br />
operations director with Vion<br />
and before that in the same role<br />
at Anglo Beef Producers.<br />
The change brings benefits<br />
to the meat companies through<br />
closer co-operation and crossselling.<br />
It also allows the new<br />
business to offer customers<br />
tailored solutions for a wide<br />
range of red meat products<br />
from sandwich fillings to the<br />
very best steak.<br />
The new Livestock Auction<br />
Division has been restructured<br />
to now take in Aberdeen &<br />
Northern Marts along with<br />
the Thainstone Exchange and<br />
Highland Cuisine, all under the<br />
leadership of general manager<br />
John Gregor.<br />
John has been the<br />
general manager of<br />
the marts since<br />
1996 and was<br />
previously<br />
the business<br />
development<br />
manager. He<br />
was heavily<br />
involved in<br />
developing <strong>ANM</strong><br />
Innovation<br />
~<br />
Professionalism<br />
~<br />
Dedication<br />
<strong>Group</strong>’s Thainstone headquarters<br />
into one of the biggest and most<br />
diverse agricultural centres in<br />
Europe.<br />
The new Livestock Division<br />
sees John take on the extra<br />
responsibility of Highland<br />
Cuisine, which works closely<br />
with the successful Thainstone<br />
Exchange for shows and events.<br />
“THE PERSONALITIES AND PROFESSIONALISM<br />
OF OUR STAFF AS WELL AS OUR<br />
PRESENTATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES<br />
HAVE TO BE CORRECT ON ALL LEVELS.”<br />
GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE ALAN CRAIG<br />
The final piece of the jigsaw<br />
is the creation of the Specialist<br />
Auctions Division under general<br />
manager Grant Rogerson, who in<br />
addition to Thainstone Specialist<br />
Auctions, takes on the added role<br />
and responsibility of Aberdeen &<br />
Northern Estates.<br />
That move will see both<br />
TSA and Estates staff<br />
come together in one<br />
office at the main<br />
Thainstone building.<br />
The rapidly expanding<br />
TSA has also opened a<br />
new Central Belt office<br />
in Blantyre, just outside<br />
Glasgow.<br />
Completing the executive lineup<br />
is the group financial director,<br />
Keith McCall.<br />
The senior management<br />
team will be supported on all<br />
activities by group managers<br />
Marilyn Paterson (training);<br />
Jennifer Graham (safety, health<br />
and environment) and Bob Dow<br />
(communications).<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> chief executive<br />
Alan Craig said the new structure<br />
was an essential part of building<br />
on the strength and diversity of<br />
the group’s activities.<br />
He explained: “To put it<br />
into context, we have been<br />
NEW GROUP<br />
MONEY MAN<br />
Looking after the purse strings<br />
for <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> is group<br />
finance director Keith McCall.<br />
He joined the business last<br />
year after working with Vion<br />
and Grampian Country Food<br />
<strong>Group</strong> for nine years.<br />
Prior to that Keith was the<br />
managing director and group<br />
finance director of Dawson<br />
Fabrics in Huddersfield,<br />
West Yorkshire.<br />
assembling a team of people<br />
capable of building <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
into a nationally recognised<br />
business in food, farming<br />
and finance.<br />
“The personalities and<br />
professionalism of our staff as<br />
well as our presentation of goods<br />
and services have to be correct<br />
on all levels.”<br />
The chief executive added:<br />
“We recognise the challenges<br />
ahead far outweigh the ones<br />
behind us. But we have an able<br />
team of people around us,<br />
confident that they can field<br />
whatever is thrown at them.”<br />
Meat Division Livestock Auctions Division Specialist Auctions Division<br />
08<br />
JOURNAL
partner profile<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> farmers are providing hides that are being used to<br />
make some of the most prestigious products in the world today.<br />
Chris Fitzgerald discovers how it’s being done<br />
Hide & Sleek<br />
ASTON MARTIN, a name that<br />
positively oozes luxury. Slip into the<br />
new cockpit of one of these supercars<br />
and you are gently enfolded by the<br />
silky softness of its seats, your senses<br />
assailed by the aromas of wealth and<br />
quality.<br />
If you are able to afford an Aston<br />
Martin, which sadly not many of us<br />
are, then you are almost certainly<br />
also the person who turns left when<br />
boarding a Singapore Airlines<br />
trans-continental flight, easing<br />
comfortably into the luxurious<br />
surroundings of your first class<br />
seat.<br />
But what is the common<br />
denominator in these two<br />
scenarios? It’s the leather. What<br />
many may not know, however, is<br />
that what has come to epitomise<br />
the luxurious life style of the rich<br />
and famous, actually started out<br />
among the cattle herds of <strong>ANM</strong><br />
<strong>Group</strong> members.<br />
The company has recently entered<br />
an exciting new agreement with the<br />
prestigious Scottish Leather <strong>Group</strong><br />
(SLG), based at Bridge of Weir just<br />
outside Glasgow, to whom they will<br />
supply significant quantities of high<br />
quality hides in the years ahead,<br />
many of which will eventually find<br />
themselves supporting many an<br />
expensive derriere!<br />
But this is business and good<br />
business for <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>. <strong>Group</strong> chief<br />
executive Alan Craig, explained: “This<br />
is a really important new relationship<br />
for us and I am delighted that we<br />
are working with such a successful<br />
company as Scottish Leather <strong>Group</strong>.<br />
I’m sure it will be an excellent<br />
partnership.<br />
“It is absolutely fascinating to see<br />
what SLG are able to do with the<br />
hides and the many extraordinary<br />
products that they become.”<br />
Today, hides are a very important<br />
part of the “fifth quarter”, the nonmeat<br />
elements of the beast after<br />
slaughter. It is only a matter<br />
of two years since the price of a hide<br />
was fetching just £17. Now, the market<br />
has recovered dramatically and in<br />
some cases is showing a threefold<br />
increase.<br />
“Prices fluctuate on the world<br />
market,” said Alan. “When demand<br />
goes up and supply stutters, the<br />
market can move quite considerably.<br />
Two years ago, hides were at a real<br />
low point. Demand had tailed off as<br />
the market in China went off the<br />
boil. Hides were being discounted<br />
heavily.<br />
“Since then it’s moved on<br />
again and demand has returned.<br />
The price has continued to rise<br />
every month for the past 24<br />
months,” he explained.<br />
So, what happens to the hides<br />
when they leave Inverurie bound<br />
for SLG? Well, it first makes its way<br />
to one of the group’s two tanneries,<br />
W J and W Lang Ltd or NCT Leather<br />
Ltd.<br />
“We buy in hides either fresh out of<br />
the abattoir twice a day, or buy it iced,<br />
chilled or salted,” explained Gareth<br />
Scott, hide procurement manager at<br />
NCT.<br />
“If iced, hides stay good for seven<br />
days, if chilled they’re good for 14<br />
days and if salted you’ve got them<br />
for up to nine months. Any hides we<br />
buy that aren’t suitable for our own<br />
production, we salt down for export.”<br />
But it isn’t a case of any old hide<br />
will do and this is where Scotch<br />
Premier’s stock comes into its own,<br />
according to Gareth.<br />
“If you take hides from prime<br />
cattle, approximately 18-24<br />
months old, fed in the house,<br />
they tend to give you a better<br />
selection than cattle that have<br />
10 JOURNAL
partner profile<br />
UNCOVERED<br />
Who is the Scottish<br />
Leather <strong>Group</strong>?<br />
Scottish Leather <strong>Group</strong> Ltd, formerly<br />
Scottish Tanning Industries Ltd, is the<br />
largest manufacturer of bovine leather in<br />
the United Kingdom.<br />
The group comprises of four leather<br />
manufacturing subsidiaries and a<br />
technology company, all located in the<br />
West of Scotland: Andrew Muirhead<br />
and Son Ltd, Bridge of Weir Leather<br />
Company Ltd, W J and W Lang Ltd, NCT<br />
Leather Ltd and SLG Technology Limited.<br />
It is a wholly privately owned,<br />
independent company, which was formed<br />
in 1965 and employs 550 people.<br />
Their specialist leathers are produced for<br />
a wide range of industries: automotive,<br />
furniture, marine, aviation, shoe and<br />
leather goods. The group’s export sales<br />
represent over 80 per cent of turnover.<br />
JOURNAL 11
partner profile<br />
FOR ASTON MARTIN, WHERE EVERY SINGLE CAR<br />
IS CUT TO ORDER, THE PARTS ALL LEAVE OUR<br />
FACTORY INDIVIDUALLY LABELLED AND<br />
MATCHED DIRECTLY TO A CHASSIS NUMBER<br />
JAMES LANG, SCOTTISH LEATHER GROUP DIRECTOR<br />
been out grazing in the fields, where they’ve<br />
been in contact with hedgerows or barbed<br />
wire fences,” he said.<br />
“Likewise, if you get more mature cattle,<br />
you find a lot of healed scars that are<br />
detrimental to the quality we’re looking for.”<br />
Once Gareth is happy with the hides, they<br />
are loaded into vessels for 22 hours, where they<br />
are limed. This involves the use of an acid to<br />
burn off the hair, dung and any other debris<br />
that is in the grain, the hair side of the hide.<br />
After that, Gareth said the hides are<br />
presented for fleshing, where excess fat is<br />
stripped.<br />
“Depending on the origin of the hides, we<br />
would either leave them whole or lime split<br />
them,” he said.<br />
“Lime splitting is taking the grain layer<br />
for quality leather use and the flesh side<br />
of the hide for collagen or cheaper leather<br />
products, such as for use in the cosmetic or<br />
suede markets.”<br />
Whatever the decision, the hides next<br />
go into the tan drums for another 24 hours<br />
and, depending on the end product NCT is<br />
looking to make, they either go through a<br />
‘wet blue’ process, which is a chrome-based<br />
tan, or a chrome-free process, which is based<br />
on aldehyde and synthetic tanning products<br />
– a more eco-friendly approach.<br />
“After that, the hides go through our final<br />
selection, where we’re looking at the whole<br />
area of the hides, their weight and their<br />
thickness,” Gareth said. “We have trained<br />
selectors who put the hides into the various<br />
grades depending on grain damage. Grain<br />
damage could be anything from scratches<br />
and disease to freeze burns or caesarean scars.<br />
“When the hides leave here, they’re half<br />
way to becoming a finished piece of leather.”<br />
James Lang, a director at Scottish Leather<br />
<strong>Group</strong>, explained that either Bridge of Weir<br />
Leather Company or Andrew Muirhead and<br />
Son will take on the hides that remain in the<br />
group for finishing.<br />
“The first thing we do is shave them,” he<br />
said. “This is to standardise the thickness of<br />
the hide. They then pass to the dye house,<br />
where we run an eight-hour process that<br />
dyes a batch of hides to the customer’s<br />
specification.”<br />
There then follows a wet-process, where<br />
the hides are not only dyed, but also receive<br />
a fat liquer, which is an oil to lubricate the<br />
fibre structure.<br />
The hide then moves to drying, where it<br />
passes through a setting machine.<br />
“This has a ‘sammying’ effect, squeezing<br />
the water out,” James explained. “It then<br />
moves to the vacuum dryer unit where it is<br />
placed grain-side onto a stainless steel plate,<br />
the dryer is closed and the water is sucked<br />
12<br />
JOURNAL
partner profile<br />
FROM LEFT:<br />
The finished leather is<br />
either hand-cut or<br />
chalk-marked for<br />
machine cutting. It is<br />
then placed on tresses<br />
for final inspection<br />
out. The hide leaves<br />
there damp, and is hotair-dried<br />
to 15 per cent<br />
relative humidity.<br />
“It then moves to<br />
the finishing process.”<br />
As Bridge of Weir<br />
only buys in hides to customer-order, colours<br />
can be mixed and prepared in advance.<br />
A roll-coating device is used to apply the<br />
basecoat and thereafter spray coats are<br />
applied, building up the colour coats to the<br />
required specification.<br />
“Textures can then be applied to the hide<br />
using engraved rollers,” James said, “and<br />
finally a clear lacquer would be applied to seal<br />
the whole thing off.”<br />
Prior to final inspection, the leather goes<br />
through an area measurement machine and a<br />
label is generated that can trace the hide right<br />
back to the field it came from if necessary.<br />
“While all that’s going on, tests are being<br />
run in the lab to ensure our wet and dry rub<br />
fastness is to a high enough spec,” James<br />
said. “In other words, it ensures that when<br />
you sit on a car seat, say, the finish won’t rub<br />
off onto your clothes. We test the strength<br />
of our leather too. Very much to what the<br />
customer’s specifications are.<br />
“We will cut the hides for certain customers<br />
ourselves, as we do for Aston Martin, where<br />
every single car is cut to order. The parts all<br />
leave our factory individually labelled and<br />
matched directly to a chassis number.”<br />
The Bridge of Weir facility uses a CAT<br />
scan-style machine for part of its cutting, but<br />
a lot is done by hand too. When used, the<br />
machine identifies chalk marks applied by<br />
staff and cuts round them for a perfect finish.<br />
And that’s it. From a field in the North-east<br />
of Scotland to a piece of top-quality leather<br />
in an Aston Martin, Airbus or Vertu mobile<br />
phone, the process might be a skilled and<br />
complex one but it is also proving a lucrative<br />
one – for both <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> and SLG.<br />
From Aston<br />
Martin to<br />
Singapore<br />
Airlines, <strong>ANM</strong><br />
<strong>Group</strong> hides<br />
will find<br />
themselves<br />
in some very<br />
interesting<br />
places…<br />
The Chancellor of the Exchequer,<br />
George Osborne, pulls his figures<br />
from a new red box whose<br />
exterior is SLG-made.<br />
UNCOVERED: PRODUCTS<br />
Jamie Oliver’s customers at Fifteen<br />
restaurant owe their comfortable<br />
dining experience to the experts at<br />
SLG in Bridge of Weir.<br />
Manchester City Football Club’s<br />
board of directors enjoy Andrew<br />
Muirhead leather in their plush<br />
boardroom suite.<br />
JOURNAL 13
Alan Craig is, by<br />
definition, a player<br />
manager. Now,<br />
<strong>ANM</strong>’s group<br />
chief executive is<br />
pushing his team for<br />
promotion to the top<br />
flight. Here, he talks<br />
to David Cameron<br />
ON THE BALL:<br />
Alan Craig can picture<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s place<br />
at the top table<br />
14<br />
JOURNAL
the interview<br />
Playing in the<br />
premier league<br />
You’ve been in the job as group chief<br />
executive two years now. Have you enjoyed<br />
it? Is it what you expected?<br />
Yes, thoroughly. Obviously, having been in<br />
the industry for so long, I knew what <strong>ANM</strong>’s<br />
primary livestock and meat interests were.<br />
What I wasn’t prepared for was the breadth<br />
and diversity of the <strong>Group</strong>’s other activities. I<br />
think some of my colleagues were getting some<br />
light amusement during my first few months<br />
in post when they got the ubiquitous reaction<br />
from me of ‘’we have a what!...where?’’ when<br />
enlightening me to yet another activity. So,<br />
one of the challenges during these early days<br />
was to stay focused and manage time based<br />
on the size or turnover of each of the<br />
businesses. Inevitably, this turned out<br />
to be easier said than done.<br />
Following in the footsteps of a<br />
‘big industry beast’ came with<br />
the inevitable demands to<br />
speak at events, participate<br />
in industry or political<br />
events and forums<br />
that seem to take<br />
up an inordinate<br />
amount of time<br />
in preparation.<br />
Coupled with<br />
this, I had also<br />
JOURNAL<br />
just become president of the Scottish meat<br />
industry’s trade association, so in the words<br />
of my late Irish mother-in-law: “I didn’t have<br />
time to bless myself!” Thankfully, I’ve had<br />
some really helpful folks around to help keep<br />
things straight.<br />
Trading conditions for your Meat<br />
Division in 2010 remained tough, yet <strong>ANM</strong><br />
<strong>Group</strong> moved into profit for the first time in<br />
several years. How significant was this and<br />
what made the difference?<br />
Trading conditions began to get rather<br />
difficult from the first half of 2008 when the<br />
industry saw a significant step change in the<br />
price of cattle fatstock, so I was prepared to see<br />
substantial challenges in the meat activities of<br />
the business on arrival in May 2009. Margins<br />
in the abattoirs were on the deck at best and<br />
our further processed activities in Yorkshire<br />
were suffering from large swathes of recently<br />
purchased raw material stock failing to realise<br />
appropriate prices from our customer base.<br />
Marrying these issues to six meat plants<br />
operating well below capacity with the resulting<br />
costs of production were the ‘perfect storm’!<br />
We went about mitigating these challenges in<br />
a fairly classic action of identifying immediate,<br />
intermediate and long-term plans for the meat<br />
division. Tackling cost from both cutting or<br />
closing out over-capacity issues and growing or<br />
widening our customer base were short-term<br />
initiatives to stop bleeding cash. Putting together<br />
a team of professionals capable of presenting<br />
to, and serving, the owner of an independent<br />
butcher shop to the CEO of a multi-national<br />
retailer, was our next short to intermediate goal.<br />
However, as we examined our stock of plant<br />
and machinery, it quickly became apparent that<br />
significant investment would be required in this<br />
area also. That resource was swiftly deployed<br />
in restructuring and renewing asset and will<br />
continue to be a challenge into the future.<br />
The team is now in place and will,<br />
over the course of this financial year<br />
and next, construct the foundations of an<br />
efficient, effective and respected meat-based<br />
food group. Upon these foundations we will<br />
build volume, quality, service and margin<br />
enabling us to return value to our shareholders<br />
and help fulfill many of the aspirations of our<br />
founding members.<br />
What remain the biggest challenges you<br />
face in taking the business forward?<br />
We’re a ‘League 1 team with Premiership<br />
aspirations’ so we depend on many of our<br />
people playing out of their skins to get there.<br />
This has thrown up a few problems. First,<br />
convincing people that there is, in fact, a<br />
Premiership out there; second, that they are<br />
perfectly capable of playing there; and third, it<br />
will take time and patience, as well as blood,<br />
sweat and tears, to get there. If I’ve had a crash<br />
course in any subject over the last two years,<br />
it’s been patience. I struggle with patience.<br />
I was at the back of the queue when it was<br />
being handed out! Even as a kid, I never got<br />
my Airfix models as far as the painting stage<br />
without launching them prematurely against<br />
the kitchen wall.<br />
I can visualise and draw a tapestry but<br />
threading the needles and sewing it is not<br />
in my comfort zone. However, I remain<br />
absolutely conscious the bigger picture will<br />
have to be constructed one stitch at a time.<br />
Keeping the cash and P&L ahead of CAPEX<br />
is, and will remain, our biggest short and<br />
intermediate term challenge.<br />
You have talked about the importance of<br />
the relationship between the consumer and<br />
the agricultural sector. If you could do one<br />
thing to strengthen that relationship, what<br />
would it be?<br />
Education, entertainment and education.<br />
We are part of an essential industry. Our<br />
products can be found in the refrigerators and<br />
cupboards of 97% of European households,<br />
15
the interview<br />
yet we are continually fighting a rearguard war<br />
of attrition with a fraction of a minority of the<br />
population – of whom most are fighting us for<br />
the wrong reasons, particularly with carbon<br />
calculations. There remains a void of ignorance<br />
in the wider population as to how food calories<br />
are delivered to our plates. The irony is that you<br />
couldn’t make up the ‘food’ story and the truth,<br />
without any embellishment, is fascinating.<br />
However, the downside still remains that<br />
we put a man on the Moon in 1969 with less<br />
computer power and technology than you<br />
would find in a Ford Fiesta today, but nobody<br />
has quite cracked a formula of how the food<br />
and agriculture sector sells itself to a rather<br />
sceptical general public.<br />
Our current ‘stable’ of celebrity chefs and<br />
rural-based television programme presenters<br />
are now really getting close to reality. It is<br />
heartening to see early evening prime time slots<br />
now taken up by agri and food-based content.<br />
Viewers no longer need to be weaned into<br />
agriculture by watching ‘stroke the donkey’<br />
types of farms; they are perfectly comfortable<br />
watching a vet being interviewed whilst being<br />
up to his armpit in an Aberdeen Angus cow’s<br />
uterus. We no longer need to allow the public<br />
to think beef olives are grown in greenhouses.<br />
The viewing public is screaming out for more<br />
information and our industry needs to get<br />
back on the front foot, tell them about it and<br />
participate in the process.<br />
The traditional heart of <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
has been the Marts business. How has this<br />
performed and what are you now focusing<br />
on to move this forward?<br />
The nucleus of the business is at<br />
Thainstone, the <strong>Group</strong>’s head office and<br />
Europe’s largest livestock market and business<br />
centre for agricultural-based companies.<br />
Adding in the volume from our livestock<br />
centre at Quoybrae, we handle over 350,000<br />
head of livestock every year. The majority<br />
of the stock is derived from the country’s<br />
stratified system of production; breeding<br />
stock on the high and less favoured land, with<br />
the calves and yearlings being sold through<br />
our auctions to finishers farming low ground<br />
across east and central Scotland.<br />
The hurdles we face in future will be<br />
maintaining that volume. Although global<br />
demand for meat proteins continue to rise,<br />
the bulk of those commodities will likely be<br />
created in areas of the planet with the lowest<br />
cost point of production. Obviously the way<br />
in which subsidies are paid to farmers to offset<br />
those varying costs of productivity is crucial.<br />
The current system, based predominantly on<br />
a level of productivity ten years ago regardless<br />
of current practices and volumes, was and<br />
remains one of the riskiest strategies of securing<br />
supply. It can and does exclude many young<br />
UPON THESE<br />
FOUNDATIONS WE<br />
WILL BUILD VOLUME,<br />
QUALITY, SERVICE AND<br />
MARGIN ENABLING US<br />
TO RETURN VALUE TO<br />
OUR SHAREHOLDERS<br />
AND HELP FULFILL<br />
MANY OF THE<br />
ASPIRATIONS OF OUR<br />
FOUNDING MEMBERS<br />
<strong>TALKING</strong> SHOP:<br />
The industry has<br />
to learn quickly how to<br />
take its message<br />
to the consumer<br />
people getting a foot on<br />
the bottom rung of the<br />
production ladder and,<br />
sadly, these next rounds<br />
of CAP reforms look<br />
unlikely to tackle with any degree of potency,<br />
either of those issues. As a result, it would not<br />
surprise me to see the original spirit of the 1950<br />
Treaty of Rome having to be reintroduced at<br />
some stage in the next decade or two.<br />
You can founder within an industry in<br />
ascendancy in the same way as you can<br />
prosper in one in decline, so we are assuming<br />
livestock numbers will continue to contract<br />
slowly and that we have to gain market share<br />
through service, quality, price and innovation.<br />
In addition, we have to expand the functions<br />
within our business which don’t rely entirely<br />
on livestock but that do operate from within<br />
the same cost infrastructure.<br />
Thainstone Specialist Auctions (TSA), for<br />
example, has been trading from strength to<br />
strength and continues to gain ground on the<br />
back of the current macro-economic climate.<br />
If you were to paint a picture of where<br />
you seeing the business in the next year,<br />
what would it look like?<br />
Although unique in the British Isles, our<br />
identity is fairly straightforward. We are<br />
in the farming, food and finance business.<br />
Everything we do has to relate or contribute<br />
to that core business.<br />
Most food and farming co-operatives are<br />
formed for similar reasons. They exist to give<br />
members an alternative, credible or enhanced<br />
value into the marketplace for a commoditybased<br />
product. For as long as I have an <strong>ANM</strong><br />
clock-on card and a pulse in my veins, that’s<br />
the model I will continue to promote. History<br />
has given us examples of those co-operative<br />
businesses which diversify into obscurity or<br />
lose sight or appreciation of that original aim<br />
then tend to fail or fragment.<br />
Talk a bit about yourself. What’s your<br />
background?<br />
The move into long trousers, full-time<br />
work, marriage and fatherhood all seemed<br />
to happen in the same year for me, so it’s not<br />
surprising the grandchildren are hitting the<br />
ground now quicker than calves out of a herd<br />
of Charolais cows. We’ve one on solids, one<br />
suckler, both young bulls, and ANOTHER one<br />
on the way. Funnily enough they, along with<br />
all the latest baby care plant and machinery, all<br />
seem to descend on our house just when I’m<br />
looking for some peace and tranquility.<br />
Thankfully I’ve just signed up to do a half<br />
marathon with one of our customers in<br />
October, so the training should keep me out of<br />
harm’s way for a few months.<br />
JOURNAL 17
insight<br />
Inverurie may be home to Scotch Premier Meat but, its high-quality<br />
products are becoming renowned throughout the world.<br />
David Cameron learns about the company’s global aspirations<br />
Scotland’s best<br />
goes global<br />
Inverurie<br />
WHEN GENERAL Air Vice Marshall Graham<br />
Stacey next sits down for dinner to entertain<br />
his distinguished guests, he is likely to<br />
be looking forward to a succulent steak,<br />
perfectly cooked to his own particular liking<br />
of rare, very rare.<br />
Now, when you learn that the steak<br />
General Stacey will consume with such<br />
relish comes from the rolling fields of<br />
Aberdeenshire, few readers who know their<br />
meat will be overly surprised. However, what<br />
may raise an eyebrow or two is the fact that<br />
the room he is entertaining in is 2300 miles<br />
away on the island of Cyprus.<br />
General Stacey is commander of the British<br />
forces based at Episkopi overseeing access for<br />
British military operations in the Middle East.<br />
And among the businesses providing<br />
essential supplies to the base and its troops is<br />
Les Nicholas, who imports a variety of Scotch<br />
Premier products from Inverurie to his shop<br />
at Limassol. He said: “The base is a good<br />
customer of mine and I know the general<br />
likes his steak very rare.”<br />
While interesting in itself, flying Scotch<br />
Premier products out to Cyprus is now<br />
just one element of the global reach of its<br />
products. Discerning diners are also enjoying<br />
meat from the company in Holland, Sweden,<br />
Italy and Hong Kong.<br />
The intention now is that, as the UK meat<br />
industry continues its climb away from the<br />
BSE crisis of 1996 which closed so many doors<br />
to exports of British products, <strong>ANM</strong>’s Meat<br />
Division and its three companies – Scotch<br />
Premier, Yorkshire Premier and Charcuterie<br />
– will see opportunities to develop new<br />
customers and reach new audiences<br />
with their quality products.<br />
Building on the success being<br />
enjoyed at present is not going to<br />
be done overnight. There are many<br />
challenges that have to be faced in making<br />
sure that the right people, with the right<br />
knowledge, experience and contacts<br />
are on the ground working on behalf of<br />
the company.<br />
And while group chief executive Alan<br />
Craig says that the company is prepared to<br />
invest in the development of the overseas<br />
market, it won’t be at the expense of the<br />
buyer in Motherwell who is prepared to<br />
pay more than the guy in Madrid!<br />
“There are 60 million people in the<br />
UK; there’s another 500 million<br />
out there in mainland Europe.<br />
That’s a significant market place,<br />
roughly the size of the United<br />
States. So this is a market that<br />
we must continue to build into<br />
and expand upon.<br />
“So, I am certainly<br />
encouraging our people to grasp<br />
the export market and, initially,<br />
the European market in particular.<br />
It’s a market that we have reach<br />
into and reach into tomorrow.”<br />
The way the market is set up in<br />
Europe at present is different from that in<br />
the UK. British companies can literally find<br />
themselves supplying some of the largest<br />
supermarket businesses on the planet,<br />
within days of arriving with their products<br />
based on price. The European market can be<br />
18<br />
JOURNAL
insight<br />
Sweden<br />
Netherlands<br />
Italy<br />
Cyprus<br />
To Hong Kong<br />
JOURNAL 19
insight<br />
extremely price oriented and it’s much more<br />
open than it is in the UK.<br />
“The UK ‘big-five’ supply base remains<br />
pretty tight and it operates on a different<br />
supply logistic and demographic from<br />
mainland Europe.<br />
“What you do need, however, is expertise<br />
on the ground from a language, price,<br />
quality and service perspective. You have to<br />
be absolutely on your game and it takes a<br />
lot of time, effort and commitment. But it<br />
is an area where <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> is prepared to<br />
invest,” explained Alan Craig.<br />
The big question is: what is going to give<br />
Scotch Premier and its sister companies<br />
an edge when it comes to competing on<br />
the European market where, post-<br />
BSE, many European supplier<br />
relationships are now<br />
very established? The<br />
answer, according<br />
to the new general<br />
manager of Scotch<br />
Premier, Malcohm<br />
Hetherington,<br />
is “quality and<br />
price”.<br />
Malcohm, who<br />
has vast experience<br />
in the industry, has<br />
only been in the job<br />
with <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s<br />
Meat Division for a matter<br />
of a few months but his “glass<br />
half full” approach and his natural<br />
enthusiasm for the sector is infectious. And<br />
he is very excited about what the company<br />
can achieve with the exceptional product it<br />
has on its doorstep.<br />
“Quality is the way forward for us because<br />
there are not that many people who can<br />
deliver the quality of meat that we can. This<br />
gives us a clear edge on the competition.<br />
“It’s all about what you get on your plate.<br />
It’s about the eating experience and the<br />
consistency that you get. There’s no point in<br />
having a fantastic steak one week and then<br />
coming back a fortnight later and it’s poor.<br />
What we are aiming to do is to make sure<br />
we are giving our customers what they want<br />
every time, not giving them what we want<br />
to give them. There’s a huge difference in<br />
attitude in that.”<br />
Malcohm argues that it is impossible to<br />
exaggerate the importance of the way in<br />
which the animal is bred and looked after for<br />
every minute of its life. He is adamant that,<br />
if the animal is stressed in any way, it always<br />
has a massive impact on the quality of the<br />
meat that is produced.<br />
“The wonderful thing about <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong>’s<br />
farmers is that they totally understand<br />
that. It is at the very core of their business<br />
thinking. Here they breed for meat, it’s not<br />
a by-product and that, coupled with the<br />
farming conditions that we have here in the<br />
north east, is what makes our offering so<br />
totally unique,” he said.<br />
Scotch Premier’s sales manager, Brian<br />
Noble, is the man charged with<br />
developing new business for the<br />
company and the overseas<br />
market is very much on<br />
his agenda. At present,<br />
he is preparing for<br />
Europe’s biggest<br />
food exhibition<br />
that takes place<br />
every two years.<br />
This year’s<br />
ANUGA event is<br />
in Germany and<br />
it will be a prime<br />
opportunity not<br />
only to showcase the<br />
company’s produce but<br />
also to show how the <strong>Group</strong> is<br />
now working together to maximise<br />
its service delivery to customers.<br />
“The Seychelles might be my first port of<br />
call on an export drive,” he joked, “but that’s<br />
not likely! Seriously though, there are huge<br />
opportunities out there for us. We just have<br />
to go and find them.<br />
“We have to be looking at the places, as<br />
we have proved in Italy, where people are<br />
wanting to buy a quality product. And there<br />
are plenty of cities around the world where<br />
we are going to find people who want a top<br />
quality piece of meat from this area.<br />
“I think with the new, very focused<br />
approach that we are now taking towards<br />
the way in which we are running our<br />
business, we are in a very good position to<br />
take advantage of the opportunities that<br />
come our way,” he said.<br />
Italy<br />
For Matteo Di Poli, it’s easy to sell<br />
Scotch Premier lamb in Italy…because<br />
he loves the taste!<br />
Matteo runs the meat importer<br />
Comint SNC, based near Padova in<br />
the north of Italy, and has been selling<br />
Scotch Premier lamb and beef for the<br />
past four years.<br />
“When I first tasted the Scotch<br />
Premier lamb I thought it was wonderful<br />
– such great flavour and texture – and<br />
much better than our Italian lamb. Now<br />
everyone knows about it because I am<br />
passionate about it!”<br />
His company sells to hundreds of<br />
butchers and restaurants in the Friuli-<br />
Venezia Giulia area, which is renowned<br />
for its famous wines such as Valpolicella,<br />
Bardolino, Soave and Prosecco.<br />
Although people in Italy love beef,<br />
Matteo believes that many don’t yet<br />
fully appreciate the high quality of<br />
Scottish beef.<br />
“Scotch Premier beef is like a<br />
really good filter coffee – it’s a<br />
high-quality product but not everyone<br />
can appreciate the taste. It’s my<br />
passion to educate them!” he said.<br />
Charcuterie has also just sold its first<br />
consignment of ham to … Parma.<br />
The Italian home of, some would<br />
argue, the very best ham in the world,<br />
has nevertheless ordered Charcuterie<br />
ham for the tourists who flock to<br />
Northern Italy, and who hanker for a<br />
taste of home while they are there.<br />
“THERE ARE PLENTY OF CITIES AROUND THE<br />
WORLD WHERE WE ARE <strong>GOING</strong> TO FIND<br />
PEOPLE WHO WANT A TOP QUALITY PIECE<br />
OF MEAT FROM THIS AREA.”<br />
BRIAN NOBLE, SCOTCH PREMIER MEAT SALES MANAGER<br />
20
insight<br />
Netherlands Sweden Cyprus<br />
In Amsterdam, Dirk Huisman knows<br />
his beef. He has to as his company<br />
supplies the city’s Michelin-starred hotels<br />
every week.<br />
He regularly chats with Holland’s top<br />
chefs and all are agreed that meat from<br />
Scotch Premier is at the top of their<br />
priority list.<br />
“We only supply the top restaurants<br />
in the country, many of which have one<br />
to three Michelin stars, so the quality of<br />
the meat has to be extremely high – and<br />
that’s why I buy from Scotch Premier,”<br />
explained Dirk, who has been importing<br />
products from the company for the past<br />
five years.<br />
“I take around 10 hinds of beef every<br />
week and age it a further 10 days – this<br />
is what my customers want: 100 per<br />
cent dry-aged Scottish beef.”<br />
Dirk said Scotch Premier lamb is also<br />
popular and in the autumn and winter<br />
there is a big demand for venison – and<br />
only Balmoral venison will do!<br />
Gordon Ramsay has a huge following<br />
in Sweden. And now, thanks to the<br />
F-word chef and the other global<br />
celebrity cooks, the reputation of Scotch<br />
Premier’s meat is growing in the land<br />
that brought us Abba, Volvo and IKEA.<br />
Nick Bergstrom, of Stene Kött &<br />
Livs in Strömstad, says his customers<br />
are being educated by the plethora<br />
of foodie programmes that are being<br />
lapped up in Sweden.<br />
“They’ve shown people the variety of<br />
things they can do in their own kitchens<br />
and how to use the different cuts of<br />
meat. And Scotch Premier has added<br />
a touch of quality and sophistication to<br />
what we can supply them.<br />
“I’ve been here seven years and when<br />
I first started the beef we<br />
used wasn’t very good,”<br />
he said. “We couldn’t<br />
sell that meat today<br />
as people just<br />
wouldn’t buy it,<br />
even though it’s<br />
cheaper. People<br />
are willing to pay a<br />
little more for better<br />
quality and that’s<br />
why Scotch Premier is<br />
perfect.”<br />
One thing’s for certain, the armed<br />
forces – including the Red Arrows – are<br />
certainly well fed in Cyprus, thanks to<br />
Scotch Premier’s meat.<br />
Les Nicholas, who owns TCP<br />
Seafood, Meat and Game Shop in<br />
Episkopi, Limassol, has been a Scotch<br />
Premier customer for about five years.<br />
He counts the Episkopi Garrison and<br />
the RAF base at Akrotiri among his best<br />
customers.<br />
“I’m an open-front shop where<br />
a customer can come in off the<br />
street, but we also deliver to homes,<br />
restaurants and hotels.<br />
“We offer fillet, rib eye, sirloin,<br />
topside – the whole beast! We also<br />
have Highland lamb; the chop, the leg,<br />
you name it.”<br />
And the holidaymakers on Cyprus<br />
are also introduced to Scotch Premier<br />
products as many of their chefs<br />
are big fans of the meat<br />
from Inverurie.<br />
Hong Kong<br />
Since it opened its doors to UK beef again<br />
three years ago, Hong Kong loves having<br />
Scotch Premier meat back on the menu.<br />
Peter Fransson, of Saison Food Service<br />
Limited in the Chinese territory, explained:<br />
“Hong Kong may be a far smaller market<br />
than, say, London, but there is a very<br />
large concentration of high-end hotels<br />
and free-standing restaurants, as well as<br />
supermarkets, here,” he said. “We sell to<br />
all of these.”<br />
Peter said that the quality of the meat is<br />
so good that his business, and consequently<br />
Scotch Premier, even featured recently on<br />
local TV.<br />
“We supply a very reputable freestanding<br />
restaurant called Shore,” he<br />
explained. “They featured on a TV show<br />
that was interested in where they sourced<br />
their fine cuts of meat. They only buy highend<br />
meat and are very much into natural<br />
product, and that’s why Scotch Premier fits<br />
in with their concept.”<br />
JOURNAL 21
the big sale<br />
Commercial<br />
success<br />
TSA handled the Les Taylor sale with dignity<br />
and professionalism. Graeme Smith reports<br />
ON A sunny spring day earlier this year, the<br />
Thainstone Centre at Inverurie staged an<br />
event the likes of which it had never seen<br />
before.<br />
An army of bulldozers, road rollers,<br />
diggers, dumper trucks, crushers, vans and<br />
cars virtually filled the site for what was<br />
to be the biggest stand alone commercial<br />
sale ever staged by Thainstone Specialist<br />
Auctions (TSA).<br />
On offer was the plant and equipment of<br />
the Les Taylor <strong>Group</strong>, once one of Buchan’s<br />
biggest employers, which sadly went into<br />
receivership with the loss of almost 200 jobs.<br />
JOURNAL<br />
23
the big sale<br />
It was a day of palpable emotion, not just<br />
for those amongst the crowd who had once<br />
worked for Les Taylor, but also for senior<br />
auctioneer and valuer, Mark Barrack.<br />
The sale of the 500 lots, including almost<br />
150 commercial vehicles, and 40 excavators,<br />
marked the culmination of three months of<br />
intensive work that had started with the loss<br />
of the jobs of many of his school friends.<br />
However, as Grant Rogerson, general<br />
manager of TSA, pointed out: “There are<br />
emotions and sensitivities in almost every<br />
sale.” Sometimes, he explained, the emotion<br />
is joy as a customer sees his plant and<br />
equipment raise the money that will fund<br />
a fulfilled retirement, sometimes there is<br />
sadness when the sale follows a bereavement<br />
and on occasions there can be anger when<br />
livelihoods are jeopardised by the collapse of<br />
a business.<br />
However, although the goods on offer and<br />
the scale of auctions and displenish sales vary<br />
considerably, TSA applies the same principles<br />
to each.<br />
“We aim to be professional, focused,<br />
flexible and efficient,” said Grant. “For<br />
example our business development manager,<br />
Les Reid, who lives in Dundee, has<br />
just returned from Stornoway and<br />
Mark is just back from doing a<br />
job in Caithness out of hours.<br />
“A client wanted a<br />
valuation for his asset<br />
register and the most<br />
efficient way we could do<br />
it was when all the kit was<br />
in his yard. We agreed to do<br />
it in an evening otherwise<br />
we would have had to drive<br />
round a number of sites and it<br />
would have taken considerably<br />
longer and cost significantly more.<br />
“The Les Taylor sale was not by any<br />
means the largest we have done in terms of<br />
the number of lots because we have done<br />
three-day sales in the past. Financially, it was<br />
a sale significantly larger than anything held<br />
previously and the quality was exceptional. It<br />
was a real credit to the company.”<br />
He explained that TSA was called in<br />
immediately the company went into<br />
receivership on Friday January 7 and then<br />
began an operation of enormous scale.<br />
They had to overcome the administrative<br />
and logistical hurdles of gathering in all the<br />
company’s vehicles and plant from across the<br />
North-east and<br />
beyond. Until<br />
that was complete,<br />
security had to be<br />
arranged at various sites and the<br />
details of every vehicle had to be logged for a<br />
comprehensive inventory ahead of valuation.<br />
Insolvency practitioners often require<br />
valuations as part of a sales pack to dispose<br />
of companies as going concerns although,<br />
unfortunately, in the Les Taylor case, this was<br />
not possible.<br />
On sale day, people travelled from as far as<br />
the Middle East to bid. There were webcast<br />
bidders from all over the world and such<br />
was the quality that many lots exceeded<br />
the anticipated value and some of the<br />
“WHEN THE SALE STARTED, AS ALWAYS YOU<br />
GET ‘INTO THE ZONE’. NERVES ARE NO GOOD<br />
SO YOU MUST FOCUS AND KNOW EXACTLY<br />
WHAT YOU ARE DOING”<br />
MARK BARRACK, SENIOR AUCTIONEER AND VALUER<br />
24<br />
CONDUCTING<br />
AFFAIRS:<br />
Mark Barrack, above,<br />
takes bids on sale day<br />
as bidders, top right,<br />
compete to snap up<br />
the best deals<br />
equipment has even<br />
ended up in Japan on<br />
post-earthquake work.<br />
“I learned through<br />
all our vehicle, plant<br />
and machinery and<br />
displenish sales of the<br />
emotions people experience,” said Mark.<br />
“You are dealing with clients who have<br />
invested a lot of time and emotion into<br />
the business. Some are sad and some are<br />
absolutely delighted. You use the experience<br />
you have gained watching how people<br />
have coped in the past to help them and<br />
sometimes you are almost like a counsellor,<br />
social worker or just a friendly ear.<br />
“I found the Les Taylor sale very emotional.<br />
The day the company went into receivership<br />
we were called to the offices in Mintlaw to<br />
await the appointment. I come from Buchan<br />
so everyone knew who I was and why I was<br />
there. I went to school with half the guys<br />
who work there and live in the same village<br />
as many of them and I found that hard.<br />
“However, when the sale itself started,<br />
as always you ‘get into the zone.’ Nerves<br />
JOURNAL
the big sale<br />
CASE STUDY<br />
Jack Taylor turned<br />
to TSA when the<br />
time came to retire<br />
The Fraserburgh engineer – no<br />
relation to Les Taylor - had enjoyed<br />
a long and successful time in business<br />
but, with no-one to succeed him,<br />
he decided to sell up and use the<br />
proceeds to part fund his future.<br />
TSA’s specialists advised him<br />
that an auction would be the best<br />
way of maximising his return from<br />
the equipment he had for sale.<br />
Everything from wire brushes to<br />
drills, vans and even a cement mixer<br />
sold on the day.<br />
Jack explained: “I’ve nothing but<br />
good things to say about TSA. I’d<br />
heard of TSA locally and the things<br />
I heard were all good. I can honestly<br />
say I wouldn’t have been able to sell<br />
my equipment without them.<br />
“I had to sell vehicles such as a<br />
forklift truck, furniture and tools such<br />
as lathes, drills, welders and clamps.<br />
Everything went – mostly to local<br />
companies. If I had to use one word<br />
to sum TSA’s service up it would be<br />
‘excellent’.”<br />
are no good so you must focus and know<br />
exactly what you are doing. We are a bit like<br />
adrenalin junkies and want to get the best<br />
out of everything for everyone.”<br />
Every day the highly<br />
experienced and qualified<br />
TSA team is out and about<br />
across the UK providing<br />
valuation and appraisal<br />
services. They work from the<br />
Thainstone headquarters and<br />
in the Central Belt for a wide<br />
range of clients including<br />
private individuals, major<br />
companies, banks, asset<br />
finance firms and insolvency<br />
practitioners.<br />
In addition, TSA holds<br />
twice weekly vehicle sales<br />
at Thainstone along with<br />
eight major Saturday sales<br />
annually offering a large<br />
selection of commercial plant<br />
and equipment, agricultural<br />
machinery, builders’ plant, engineering<br />
equipment, light and heavy commercial<br />
FACT<br />
Big Deal<br />
Senior Auctioneer<br />
Mark Barrack once sold<br />
two huge vehicles he<br />
estimates were 10 times<br />
the size of an articulated<br />
lorry and each had 150<br />
wheels that were used<br />
for moving the topsides<br />
of oilrigs. An Iranian<br />
and a Pakistani were<br />
competing to buy them<br />
and he auctioned them<br />
through interpreters.<br />
vehicles, horticultural plant and hand tools.<br />
The regular police lost property sales also<br />
attract big crowds, as do the collectable<br />
and limited edition whisky and<br />
Border Fine Art sales that are<br />
held occasionally.<br />
The car sales feature<br />
everything from luxury<br />
vehicles like Porsches and<br />
Range Rovers costing tens of<br />
thousands to older cars being<br />
sold for spares. TSA is used<br />
by local authorities and a<br />
number of finance companies<br />
as well as individuals and<br />
Grant pointed out: “Every<br />
auction is different because<br />
customers are allowed to<br />
enter vehicles up until 5.30pm<br />
on the day of sale and we sell<br />
almost 4000 cars a year.”<br />
As well as a wealth of<br />
experience, the team has a vast<br />
amount of data to help them in<br />
their valuations, whether it is an oilrig, office<br />
furniture or even a collection of Star Wars<br />
memorabilia (which the owner eventually<br />
decided he couldn’t part with).<br />
Grant explained: “We did an ice factory last<br />
year, a clean water system for the offshore<br />
industry which was still in the development<br />
stage and also two refrigerated cargo vessels<br />
in Lithuania which were marketed across<br />
Europe and were sold by private treaty.<br />
“While the Les Taylor sale was taking place<br />
on the ground, it was also being broadcast<br />
live on the web. We have our own system<br />
for real time bidding and the price the<br />
auctioneer is selling an item at is relayed to<br />
a computer operator who in turn relays it to<br />
interested parties. They have a description<br />
and normally a photograph and when they<br />
want to bid they click.<br />
“Our integrity is absolutely vital to us. We<br />
have a great database of customers who have<br />
dealt with us for many years and trust us. That<br />
is invaluable. We know that if we describe<br />
something incorrectly, our integrity would be<br />
questioned. So we always strive to get it right.<br />
“We have no agenda other than to do<br />
the very best possible for our clients – both<br />
buyers and sellers.”<br />
JOURNAL 25
members<br />
Labour<br />
of love<br />
For the Websters of Kildrummy, farming without<br />
a Single Farm Payment has been an uphill battle.<br />
Bob Dow discovers how they’ve made it work<br />
IT IS, quite simply, a view to die for. Lush,<br />
grass covered hills rolling into the distant<br />
glens while the cold, blue-grey waters of the<br />
River Don wind their weary way below.<br />
This picture-postcard scene is the<br />
archetypal vista that draws tourists up<br />
Strathdon on the A97 road as they make their<br />
way towards the Cairngorms National Park.<br />
But it is also the cornerstone of another<br />
vital Scottish industry: livestock farming. This<br />
land is more than just a view. It is the very<br />
bedrock that the secret of producing top<br />
quality meat is built upon.<br />
Charles and Alison Webster are a small,<br />
but vital, part of that process. For the<br />
last 21-years they have farmed 380-acres<br />
at Ardhuncart, Kildrummy, one of those<br />
beautiful hidden nuggets that Aberdeenshire<br />
always seems to have.<br />
For them, this is not just a business. It is<br />
a way of life, something that demands total<br />
devotion and a single-minded determination<br />
to produce livestock of the highest standard.<br />
Their success in achieving this is all the<br />
more remarkable given that they do it<br />
without Single Farm Payment, the financial<br />
aid that normally underpins farmers in the<br />
European Union.<br />
Charles, 46, rents his farm from the<br />
Ardhuncart Trust Estate. He had also been in<br />
a business partnership with his parents, who<br />
farmed at nearby Rhynie. Six years ago, he<br />
came out of the partnership but the Single<br />
Farm Payment stayed with his parents.<br />
That move has been expensive, potentially<br />
IT BEEN VERY HARD FOR<br />
US BUT THE FAULT LIES<br />
WITH THE SINGLE FARM<br />
PAYMENT SYSTEM<br />
CHARLES WEBSTER<br />
costing the couple around £40,000 a year in<br />
lost subsidy and is money that would make a<br />
huge difference to them, but they get by.<br />
Charles admits: “It has been very hard for<br />
us but the fault lies with the Single Farm<br />
Payment system because there is provision<br />
in it for amalgamating businesses but there<br />
is no provision for a business being split,<br />
especially after the entitlements had been<br />
consolidated, which is wrong.”<br />
He added: “For us six years ago it was just<br />
like starting all over again. We had to look<br />
forward and not look back and just say ‘well<br />
this is what we want to do’ and then get on<br />
with it to the best of our abilities.”<br />
Sheer hard work and determination<br />
sees them through, along with teamwork<br />
through the help of their three daughters:<br />
Kimberley, 19, a student nurse; Mhairi aged<br />
15 and 10-year-old Angela.<br />
The couple have 85 cows, mainly Simmental<br />
cross, plus 30 heifers retained for the following<br />
season along with 35 yearling heifers. They also<br />
have 160 ewes, mostly Mules.<br />
Lambs, mostly prime, are sold through the<br />
Aberdeen & Northern Marts auction centre at<br />
FAMILY AFFAIR: Thainstone or killed at<br />
Charles and Alison <strong>ANM</strong>’s Scotch Premier<br />
Webster with<br />
Meat at Inverurie.<br />
daughters Kimberley,<br />
Replacement gimmers<br />
Mhairi and Angela<br />
are also sourced at<br />
Thainstone.<br />
Heifers are mainly retained for breeding<br />
while steers are sold at Thainstone between<br />
10-12-months old.<br />
There is no magic formula for success.<br />
Charles and Alison work hard on being as<br />
efficient as possible. Two years ago they also<br />
joined Orkney Hi-Health scheme for all their<br />
26<br />
JOURNAL
identifier<br />
cattle to ensure they were blood tested and<br />
vaccinated for potential problems such as<br />
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD). It is an extra<br />
expense but it has also brought welcome<br />
extra returns.<br />
Alison, 48, explained: “There is no doubt<br />
there are more farmers going down the Hi-<br />
Health route now because they can see the<br />
benefits. With the Government’s national<br />
BVD eradication programme now under way,<br />
people are starting to pay more notice and<br />
that has helped the prices we get.<br />
“The vaccinations are expensive but when<br />
you start to see the benefits then it is not as<br />
expensive as you think.”<br />
Charles added: “There is always opposition<br />
to change but I could immediately see the<br />
benefits to our cattle because we had no<br />
problems with things like scour or pneumonia<br />
when we were calving, in fact I had the<br />
tightest calving I have ever had this year.<br />
“Thanks to the Hi-Health scheme and<br />
other measures we take, our calves have a<br />
better glow to them, they are brighter eyed<br />
and they have shinier skins.<br />
“At the end of the day because we have no<br />
THERE ARE MORE<br />
FARMERS <strong>GOING</strong><br />
DOWN THE HI-HEALTH<br />
ROUTE BECAUSE THEY<br />
SEE THE BENEFITS<br />
ALISON WEBSTER<br />
single farm payments we have to try to make<br />
this as efficient as possible to get the best<br />
results from our beasts because we can’t rely<br />
on any subsidies.”<br />
Ardhuncart is a perfect setting for raising<br />
cattle, being south facing and up to the sun<br />
with the land rising from 550ft to 1200ft<br />
above sea level. Their livestock are fed a mix<br />
of barley, silage and straw for fibre along with<br />
the delicious sweet grass that blooms in such<br />
a fresh, natural environment.<br />
The hard work is paying off. All their cattle<br />
sold this year were home-bred. A major<br />
commercial breeding cattle show and sale at<br />
Thainstone in May saw them take a special<br />
prize for the best average price for three<br />
Simmental sired heifers with calves. Last<br />
year, at the same sale they had the champion<br />
Simmental cross heifer.<br />
But the biggest reward for them has been<br />
reputation. Buyers are coming back again<br />
and again because they know the proven<br />
quality of the livestock.<br />
Charles pointed out: “Getting these repeat<br />
buyers is actually the best advert you can get<br />
and the most satisfying feeling for a farmer<br />
to have.”<br />
However, that lack of any subsidy is always<br />
hovering there in the background, ensuring<br />
there is no let up in the drive to make the<br />
best of what they have got.<br />
Alison admitted: “We have a good<br />
relationship with our bank, the Clydesdale,<br />
who understand farming and that is crucial.<br />
It may be hard but if the Single Farm<br />
Payment system suddenly disappeared<br />
overnight then we would be in a far stronger<br />
position than a lot of folk because we are not<br />
dependent on it.”<br />
Despite the hurdles, there is no doubting<br />
the family’s attachment to the land and what<br />
they do, as Charles explained: “They always<br />
say ‘stick to something you half know rather<br />
than something you know nothing about’.<br />
We kind of half know what we are doing so I<br />
think we will stick to that!”<br />
One long look across to his cattle quietly<br />
grazing in the fields below helped him<br />
sum it all up: “When you go out in the<br />
morning and there is a new born calf<br />
standing suckling its mother then that is<br />
best reward you can get.”<br />
JOURNAL 27
wind power<br />
Helping farmers turn a profit from wind power has<br />
become a specialist subject for the team at Aberdeen<br />
and Northern Estates. Tim Power meets a man who has<br />
harnessed their knowledge to build his own windfarm<br />
Power play<br />
WHILE ALBERT is the 14th generation of<br />
Howie to farm in Aberdeenshire, his focus<br />
is very much on the future. That’s why he’s<br />
just invested in three wind turbines that will<br />
provide an excellent stream of revenue from<br />
renewable energy into the years ahead.<br />
The Buchan farmer, along with his son<br />
George, manages 1,100 acres of arable land<br />
at his farm in West Knock, Stuartfield, just<br />
ten miles from Peterhead, where he’s well<br />
known for his herd of 80 red and black<br />
pedigree Limousin cattle and flock of Texel<br />
sheep. However, like many other landowners<br />
in the area, Albert became interested in the<br />
potential of diversifying his business into<br />
renewable energy.<br />
“Over the last few years there’s been a lot<br />
of talk about wind turbines in the farming<br />
JOURNAL 29
wind power<br />
community as a good way of getting<br />
additional revenue, so I decided to look<br />
into it.<br />
“It does have good business potential but<br />
when you’re setting out on that journey,<br />
there’s a lot to consider. You have to look<br />
closely at everything from the technical<br />
characteristics of your proposed site, such<br />
as average wind speeds, to the financing<br />
arrangements. Then, of course, there is<br />
the planning process which can be very<br />
complex,” he said.<br />
The farmer’s view that the process can<br />
be a protracted one proved absolutely<br />
correct in his own case. Albert’s plans for<br />
three wind turbines with the capacity to<br />
generate enough electricity to power up to<br />
4,000 homes, eventually took three years to<br />
accomplish.<br />
He finally obtained planning permission<br />
in February 2010 after a review of<br />
the project by the council’s planning<br />
department into the turbine’s affect on<br />
noise, shadow and “visual intrusion”. He<br />
also had to overcome the National Air<br />
Traffic Service’s fears that the 80-metre high<br />
turbines could pose a risk to air traffic in<br />
the area.<br />
Once planning had been approved, he<br />
hired a local contractor who will prepare<br />
and install the turbines and set about<br />
raising finance. That’s where <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
and the company’s Aberdeen & Northern<br />
Estates specialists entered the play.<br />
Albert said: “I’ve done business with<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong> before through selling cattle<br />
and sheep and have found the cooperative<br />
to be a very efficient and well-run<br />
operation.<br />
“I have to say I was really impressed with<br />
the service when Ian MacLennan of A&N<br />
Estates came out to value a 100-acre area<br />
of my land for a loan to finance part of the<br />
turbine project.<br />
“Within days, the Estates’ people had<br />
come back to me with a 15-year financing<br />
offer from AMC which was a good offer.<br />
I like A&N Estates hands-on approach.<br />
There’s no doubt in my mind that it gives<br />
you a lot of reassurance that you are dealing<br />
with people you can trust.”<br />
Today, work is already underway at West<br />
Knock farm where an access road is being<br />
constructed prior to the erection of the three<br />
800KW turbines in August. It’s an exciting<br />
time for the farmer and his business.<br />
A&N Estates has seen its wind turbinerelated<br />
valuation work treble in the past<br />
year as the interest in renewable energy<br />
has escalated following the launch of the<br />
Government’s Feed in Tariff subsidy.<br />
James Petty from the Estates valuation<br />
team explained: “Since the introduction<br />
of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) there’s been<br />
a bit of a gold rush for wind turbines<br />
projects. Before FIT there was little financial<br />
incentive to install small-scale wind<br />
turbines, but this lucrative subsidy has<br />
definitely changed the market.”<br />
While Albert Howie chose to finance his<br />
wind project himself, many landowners<br />
have entered into agreements with energy<br />
STARTING GRID:<br />
Albert Howie on<br />
the site where he<br />
plans three turbines<br />
30<br />
JOURNAL
wind power<br />
developers to rent or lease their land<br />
to site wind turbines. However, these<br />
contracts can be quite complicated and<br />
not always as favourable as they can be<br />
for the landowner. As James explained:<br />
“Energy developers can offer a wide<br />
range of different tie-in arrangements,<br />
payments and contract durations. Some<br />
contracts we have assessed have been quite<br />
unreasonable, so an independent scrutiny is<br />
essential before people sign anything.”<br />
The Estates’ valuation team has<br />
wide experience in assessing the land<br />
management aspects of a contract.<br />
James said: “We have been looking<br />
at the impact of utilities and road<br />
developments on farm land for decades, so<br />
the development aspects of wind turbines<br />
is a natural extension of this. The erection<br />
of a wind turbine may only require an acre<br />
of land, but there are still a lot of access<br />
issues for construction and work needed to<br />
connect the turbine’s output to the grid.<br />
This could involve disrupting farming for a<br />
time so there are many things to consider<br />
when entering into a contract of this sort.<br />
“We can give people best practice advice<br />
on the impact to the farm, on its revenue<br />
generation and on its overall value. It’s our<br />
role to be on the farmer’s side of the fence<br />
and assess the agreement from the point of<br />
value to our client,” added James.<br />
While A&N Estates’ core areas are the<br />
North-east and Caithness and Sutherland,<br />
its expertise is in increasing demand<br />
across Scotland and the days of simply<br />
selling rural property have long gone. They<br />
constantly adapt to meet the changing<br />
demands of clients and, for example, are<br />
also skilled at negotiating with utility and<br />
energy companies for wayleave payments<br />
and compensation claims for cables and<br />
pipelines that traverse farmland.<br />
In the late 80s and 90s there were an<br />
enormous number of mobile phone masts<br />
erected and they helped farmers with<br />
challenges like agreeing leases on new sites<br />
and rent reviews.<br />
There are now few new masts as<br />
operators, including O2 and Vodafone,<br />
carry out amalgamations but the surveyors’<br />
advice can be invaluable in helping<br />
farmers secure the proper deal when these<br />
amalgamations take place.<br />
“WITH ABERDEEN AND NORTHERN ESTATES,<br />
THERE’S A LOT OF REASSURANCE THAT YOU<br />
ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE YOU CAN TRUST.”<br />
ALBERT HOWIE, FARMER<br />
UNCOVERED<br />
How the feed<br />
tariff works<br />
The Feed in Tariff is a Government<br />
incentive designed to reduce<br />
carbon footprint and energy bills,<br />
help people become more selfsufficient<br />
in energy, and earn some<br />
extra income!<br />
The Generation Tariff:<br />
You earn a fixed income for every<br />
kilowatt hour of electricity you<br />
generate and use in your property.<br />
The Export Tariff:<br />
You earn an additional fixed<br />
income for every kilowatt hour of<br />
electricity you generate and sell<br />
back to the grid.<br />
Discounts from your<br />
electricity supplier:<br />
When you can’t generate enough<br />
electricity for your needs (if the<br />
wind don’t blow and the sun don’t<br />
shine) you still buy electricity<br />
from your utility company at the<br />
normal rates but it’ll be much less<br />
electricity than you currently buy.<br />
James Petty<br />
<strong>ANM</strong> ESTATES<br />
James Petty has more<br />
than a feel for the<br />
land, he has a<br />
deep-rooted<br />
understanding and knowledge of it based<br />
on years of experience and learning.<br />
He started out studying agriculture and<br />
graduated from Aberdeen University,<br />
close to his hometown of Stonehaven.<br />
Then, as his career developed, he<br />
studied through the College of Estate<br />
Management to become a chartered<br />
surveyor, a job he now loves with<br />
A&N Estates.<br />
JOURNAL 31
estates<br />
To get the best price for your property, A&N Estates’<br />
specialists know how to drive a hard bargain.<br />
Graeme Smith examines today’s market<br />
Negotiate,<br />
Negotiate<br />
THERE ARE few greater milestones in life<br />
than selling a house. However, selling a farm<br />
has to be one of them.<br />
When the bids are opened there is inevitably<br />
tremendous emotion because it’s not just<br />
buildings, land and equipment that are being<br />
sold but a lifestyle and a piece of history.<br />
On average, Aberdeen & Northern Estates<br />
sells a farm once a fortnight and in Scotland<br />
today there are few as well qualified to give<br />
advice on the best way to go about it.<br />
So, for those who may be thinking about<br />
selling, what does the landscape look like out<br />
there at the moment and how do you get<br />
the best price for that much-loved<br />
property?<br />
According to Ian<br />
MacLennan, a director and<br />
operations manager with<br />
A&N Estates, the prospects<br />
of fetching good prices today<br />
are good. And with 22 years<br />
experience with the company,<br />
and having witnessed huge<br />
changes in the market over<br />
that time, he should know.<br />
“In my early days, most<br />
people sold farms as a whole<br />
with buildings, land and the farmhouse all<br />
included at a price per acre which at that<br />
time was £1,000.<br />
“The price at this moment in time can be<br />
well in excess of £4,000 per acre for good<br />
quality bare land which doesn’t include the<br />
farmhouse or buildings.”<br />
Today, he explained, the trend in how<br />
properties are sold has changed and it has<br />
become much more popular to divide the<br />
farm into lots for selling.<br />
FACT<br />
Up & away<br />
20 years ago an acre<br />
of land, including<br />
farmhouse and property<br />
was £1000 – it can now<br />
be more than £4000<br />
without a property<br />
“The farmer will perhaps sell the steading<br />
for conversion, the land to a neighbour who<br />
is keen to expand to spread his fixed costs,<br />
a developer may come in if there are good<br />
outbuildings and the farmhouse may be<br />
bought by someone who simply wants to<br />
stay in the country.<br />
“Good quality farmhouses which were<br />
once considered remote now have far<br />
more appeal because of factors like better<br />
communications through home internet and<br />
transport links.<br />
“They attract people like professionals in the<br />
oil industry who want to live in a big house in<br />
a remote location which would have<br />
been unheard of 30 years ago.”<br />
Ian explained that in spite<br />
of the well-documented<br />
downturn in the residential<br />
market, farms are selling<br />
extremely well. An imbalance<br />
in demand and supply and the<br />
current economies of farming<br />
has combined to raise prices.<br />
The price of produce<br />
has never been higher and<br />
neighbouring farmers are keen to<br />
buy the land, if not the farmhouse,<br />
to make their operations more sustainable.<br />
“Buying a farm has been seen as a hedge<br />
against inflation over a long time period<br />
because the value, apart from a couple of<br />
glitches in the late 80s, has always held up<br />
well,” said Ian.<br />
“Low interest rates now make it ideal for<br />
borrowing but there are also purchasers with<br />
considerable capital, perhaps from selling off<br />
land for development.<br />
“They can get significant tax breaks by<br />
FOR SALE:<br />
A&N Estates’ James<br />
Petty posts another<br />
property on the market<br />
32<br />
JOURNAL
GOOD QUALITY<br />
FARMHOUSES WHICH<br />
WERE ONCE CONSIDERED<br />
REMOTE NOW HAVE FAR<br />
MORE APPEAL BECAUSE<br />
OF FACTORS LIKE BETTER<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
THROUGH HOME<br />
INTERNET AND<br />
TRANSPORT LINKS<br />
JOURNAL 33
estates<br />
reinvesting it in agricultural land which is far<br />
more attractive than depositing it in the bank.”<br />
So, when that decision has been taken<br />
to sell, how do A&N Estates go about<br />
supporting the seller?<br />
The team of four chartered surveyors have<br />
almost a century of experience behind them<br />
and in addition, because of the volume of<br />
business they attract, they have an extensive<br />
database that is a major asset in valuation<br />
and selling.<br />
When carrying out a valuation, whether<br />
for tax purposes, following a bereavement or<br />
ahead of a sale, they can refer to their unrivalled<br />
database to help ascertain accurate figures.<br />
Every person who contacts the company<br />
is also added to the database. That then<br />
provides a list of potential buyers for<br />
properties about to be sold.<br />
Another key advantage is that <strong>ANM</strong> <strong>Group</strong><br />
– of which A&N Estates is a part – is a<br />
“one-stop-shop” for sellers with Estates<br />
dealing with the property, Thainstone<br />
Specialist Auctions looking after the<br />
moveable items and Aberdeen & Northern<br />
Marts handling the disposal of any livestock.<br />
Whether it be a historic Scottish estate<br />
like Straloch with its own private chapel,<br />
an established business such as a fishery, or<br />
even a but‘n’ben, Ian MacLennan and his<br />
team have the experience required to ensure<br />
UNCOVERED<br />
Need to know!<br />
Ten steps to make the sale process<br />
smooth and successful as possible<br />
1 Telephone or drop in on the experts<br />
2 Have a confidential chat<br />
without commitment<br />
3 A surveyor will walk the<br />
property and land<br />
4 A selling strategy will be suggested<br />
5 Marketing and advertising<br />
recommendations will be made<br />
6 The company will use its extensive<br />
database, marketing and advertising to<br />
generate interest<br />
7 No large upfront marketing charges<br />
8 Go to closing date<br />
9 Conclude sale<br />
] 10 Settle accounts<br />
everything goes smoothly.<br />
One of the first things the surveyors<br />
from A&N Estates will do when discussing a<br />
potential sale with a client is give guidance<br />
on the most advantageous method of sale –<br />
whether lotting or selling as a whole.<br />
“One important thing is that however<br />
it is being sold we market the farm, not<br />
ourselves,” said Grant Rogerson, the<br />
company’s general manager. “We give<br />
independent advice, have no agendas and we<br />
are there for buyers and sellers. We charge<br />
a commission for what we do so it is in our<br />
interests to get best value,” he added.<br />
Another member of the Estates team<br />
is James Petty. In his experience, there<br />
are many reasons why people in rural<br />
communities make the decision to use the<br />
company to sell their properties.<br />
“In former days, farms passed from father<br />
to son but today Aberdeen is particularly<br />
prosperous and many of the sons have<br />
moved into the oil industry so there may be<br />
no-one to take over if they want to retire.<br />
There are also those who have no family to<br />
succeed them.<br />
“Some smaller farms may be slightly<br />
less sustainable and the family can’t take<br />
it over because it is not going to give them<br />
the income. There are also a few who have<br />
bought farms in recent years but have found<br />
the harsh winters too demanding.”<br />
Whatever the reason for selling a home, it<br />
is often said that the process can be one of<br />
life’s most traumatic experiences. However,<br />
using the knowledge and experience of the<br />
team at A&N Estates can take some of that<br />
pain out of the equation.<br />
PROPERTY SPOTLIGHT<br />
New Craig Farm,<br />
Oldmeldrum,<br />
Aberdeenshire,<br />
AB51 0EH<br />
Excellent arable farm<br />
in sought after location<br />
with first class range of<br />
modern farmbuildings<br />
for arable and livestock<br />
enterprise.<br />
A rare opportunity has<br />
arisen to purchase a 400 acre<br />
farm with traditional granite<br />
built 4-bedroom farmhouse<br />
together with excellent range<br />
of farmbuildings with the<br />
modern buildings extending<br />
to approximately 15,500 sq.ft<br />
together with a further range<br />
of traditional stone and slate<br />
buildings. The land extends to<br />
just over 400 acres and the<br />
majority of the land is classified<br />
as grade 3(1) by the Macaulay<br />
Institute for Soil Research and<br />
should be capable of better<br />
than average production.<br />
The remainder of the land is<br />
graded 3(2).<br />
New Craig Farm is<br />
situated in the renowned<br />
farming area just three<br />
miles west of Oldmeldrum<br />
and approximately twentytwo<br />
miles north west of<br />
Aberdeen. The farm enjoys<br />
a scenic rural setting yet lies<br />
in close proximity to nearby<br />
settlements and services. The<br />
present owner adopts a four<br />
year crop rotation that involves<br />
leaving a proportion of the<br />
land fallow each year as a<br />
result the land is in extremely<br />
good heart and the fallow area<br />
allows early entry for following<br />
season’s winter OSR which<br />
normally produces bumper<br />
yields.<br />
The farm is for sale as<br />
a whole at Offers Over<br />
£1,800,000.<br />
34<br />
JOURNAL
FOR SALE<br />
NEWBIGGING<br />
FARM,<br />
INSCH<br />
AB52 6NN<br />
625 acre arable farm with modern<br />
grain store, farmhouse and<br />
2 house sites.<br />
568 acres arable<br />
55 acres pasture<br />
Mainly south facing<br />
4-bedroom farmhouse<br />
15,500sq.ft modern<br />
grain store<br />
For sale as a whole<br />
or in 4 lots.<br />
Asking Prices<br />
Lot 1: Newbigging<br />
Farm – Offers over<br />
£1,600,000<br />
Lot 2: Land at New<br />
Leslie – Offers over<br />
£300,000<br />
Lot 3: Field No.10 –<br />
Offers over £100,000<br />
Lot 4: House Site -<br />
Old Leslie – Offers<br />
over £60,000<br />
As a whole: Offers<br />
over £2,060,000<br />
Interested? Get in touch...<br />
Telephone 01467623800 or log on to<br />
www.anmgroup.co.uk/estates<br />
FOR SALE<br />
BRAESIDE<br />
FARM,<br />
FORDYCE,<br />
BANFF,<br />
AB45 2XP<br />
Well maintained small arable farm<br />
with outstanding views over the<br />
Moray Firth coast.<br />
Lot 1: Farmhouse:<br />
Traditional 3-Bedroom<br />
house with large kitchen.<br />
Farmbuildings:<br />
General purpose shed<br />
and traditional range<br />
Land:18Ha (44.5<br />
acres) class 3(2) arable<br />
Lot 2: Muttonbrae<br />
– Former farmhouse<br />
converted to agricultural<br />
store with adjoining<br />
range set in lands<br />
extending to 1Ha<br />
(2.5 acres) or thereby.<br />
About 19HA (47<br />
acres) in all for sale as<br />
a whole or in two lots<br />
with vacant possession.<br />
Asking Prices<br />
Lot 1: Offers over<br />
£370,000<br />
Lot 2: Offers over<br />
£60,000<br />
As a whole: Offers<br />
over £430,000<br />
Interested? Get in touch...<br />
Telephone 01467623800 or log on to<br />
www.anmgroup.co.uk/estates<br />
FOR SALE<br />
BARMOSSIE<br />
MOSS OF<br />
BARMUCKITY,<br />
ELGIN,<br />
IV30 8QW<br />
Spacious 4-bedroom bungalow<br />
with extensive range of workshops,<br />
outbuildings and 14 acres<br />
2,100Sq.Ft of<br />
bright spacious living<br />
accommodation<br />
New fitted kitchen<br />
and bathroom<br />
Central heating<br />
from newly installed<br />
woodburner boiler<br />
connected by<br />
equaliser to oil fire<br />
system<br />
South facing aspect<br />
overlooking own land<br />
Equestrian and/<br />
or redevelopment<br />
potential<br />
About 14.2 Acres in<br />
all for sale as a whole<br />
or in two lots with<br />
vacant possession<br />
Asking Prices:<br />
Offers over £420,000<br />
Interested? Get in touch...<br />
Telephone 01467623800 or log on to<br />
www.anmgroup.co.uk/estates<br />
JOURNAL 35
THE <strong>ANM</strong> GROUP LTD.<br />
Thainstone Centre,<br />
Inverurie, AB51 5XZ,<br />
Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 623 700<br />
Fax: 01467 623 777<br />
ABERDEEN &<br />
NORTHERN MARTS<br />
Thainstone Centre,<br />
Inverurie, AB51 5XZ,<br />
Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 623 710<br />
Fax: 01467 623 777<br />
Regional Centres<br />
ELGIN AUCTION<br />
CENTRE<br />
Tel: 01343 547 047<br />
SCOTCH PREMIER<br />
MEAT LIMITED<br />
North Street, Inverurie,<br />
AB51 4TL, Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 620 631<br />
Fax: 01467 624 653<br />
YORKSHIRE PREMIER<br />
MEAT LIMITED<br />
Aston Street, Sheffield,<br />
S2 5BD, England<br />
Tel: 01142 761 771<br />
Fax: 01142 753 989<br />
CHARCUTERIE LIMITED<br />
The Green, Twechar,<br />
Glasgow, G65 9QA, Scotland<br />
Tel: 01236 824 440<br />
Fax: 01236 825 044<br />
ABERDEEN &<br />
NORTHERN (ESTATES)<br />
LIMITED<br />
Thainstone Centre, Inverurie,<br />
AB51 5XZ, Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 623 800<br />
Fax: 01467 623 809<br />
CAITHNESS<br />
LIVESTOCK CENTRE<br />
Tel: 01955 621 363<br />
HIGHLAND<br />
CUISINE LIMITED<br />
Thainstone Centre, Inverurie,<br />
AB51 5XZ, Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 623 867<br />
Fax: 01467 623 810<br />
and at<br />
Lidgate Crescent,<br />
Langthwaite Grange<br />
Industrial Estate, Kirkby, nr<br />
Pontefract, West Yorks,<br />
WF9 3NR, England<br />
Tel: 01977 658 000<br />
Fax: 01977 649 062<br />
THAINSTONE<br />
SPECIALIST AUCTIONS<br />
Thainstone Centre, Inverurie,<br />
AB51 5XZ, Scotland<br />
Tel: 01467 623 770<br />
Fax: 01467 623 771