Scottish water treatment business tapping in to new revenue flows with HSBC support
Scotmas, an ambitious Scottish family business specialising in the purification of water, is tapping into new markets after receiving a £1.3m finance package from HSBC.
The company, based in Kelso in the Borders, is a world-leading designer and manufacturer of chlorine dioxide products and water treatment dosing systems which they provide to industrial, agricultural and healthcare premises in the UK and Europe.
Following the implementation of an aggressive expansion strategy to stimulate growth for the business, Scotmas has moved to use its technology to provide safe drinking water to parts of the world where a lack of infrastructure makes its provision a challenge. Scotmas is also using its technology to diversify into the oil and gas sector.
Recent contracts that Scotmas has won include supplying additional water disinfection systems for new desalination plants in Doha in time for the Qatar World Cup in 2022, plus a contract to help provide clean water to villages in Southern India.
Alistair Cameron, managing director, Scotmas said: “We have made a number of significant and ambitious business decisions in recent times to make Scotmas stronger and more profitable. Diversifying into different areas was the biggest decision, and finding a financial backer that recognised our ambition and had the international reach and expertise to suit our new business model was another. With HSBC we have ticked those boxes, and with the finance package we have agreed, we look forward to 2015 and beyond, and growing more.”
Colin More, head of corporate banking for Scotland, HSBC said: “Scotmas is a great example of an ambitious business that takes a step back to assess where it is and where it is going. In doing so it has identified areas where their world-leading technologies can prove useful and profitable, and as a result they are a business that is going from strength to strength.”
Colin said: “We have a strong appetite to support the growth of mid-market Scottish businesses like Scotmas, and are pleased to be part of this exciting period, helping them grow.”
This finance to support the growth of Scotmas, including export trade finance and invoice finance, marks the start of a new banking relationship and was provided by HSBC’s East of Scotland Commercial Centre in Edinburgh in a deal managed by Corporate Banking Manager Karl Lejman. The funding was provided through HSBC’s £100m East of Scotland SME Fund to support Scotmas’s growth.
