Scotland Ltd 2015Powering the Vibrant Economy

2 Scotland Ltd 2015

Scotland Ltd 2015 3

Contents

Foreword: Kevin Engel 4

About Scotland Ltd 2015 6

Scotland's top 100 limited companies 8

Top 100 overview 10

What's powering Scotland's vibrant economy? 12

Food and Drink: Scotland's year 18

Analysis: Keith Proudfoot, ICAEW 22

Analysis: Bill Jamieson, Business and Economics Commentator 24

Property and Construction: Building on strong foundations 26

Taking the long view: Sacha Romanovitch 30

About Grant Thornton UK 31

4 Scotland Ltd 2015

Foreword: Kevin Engel

In November 2014 we launched our first ever Scotland Ltd report. Our purpose was to identify through a set of robust, consistent criteria the country's top 100 limited companies, and explore what lay behind their position as Scotland's most dynamic, growth-hungry businesses.

Our launch followed an eye-wateringly busy, high-profile year for Scotland. From the independence referendum to the Commonwealth Games, businesses learned to cope and grow in a climate of great opportunity and immense challenge.

Fast forward to today and the headline data for the Scottish economy looks uncertain. Towards the end of 2015, indicators showed confidence, productivity levels and employment figures were lagging behind the rest of the UK. However, much of that is dominated by the impact of the global oil and gas downturn. Scotland Ltd 2015 focuses on private limited businesses where ownership is located here in Scotland. Therefore due to the multi-national nature of many energy firms some of that impact is eliminated from our data.

The last twelve months have been some of the most testing in the oil and gas industry's history. A consistently low oil price and the ever-increasing challenges facing exploration are forcing us all to analyse the future of Scotland's biggest revenue generating industry. But, it's not

all bad news. Recent multi-million pound funding support announcements from the Scottish and UK Governments, and long-term commitments from major players such as BP, suggest that with resilience and a commitment to greater innovation and collaboration Scotland's biggest revenue generating industry does have a future.

It's that sense of resilience and working together that echoes throughout this year's report. While there is currently a great deal of focus on the energy challenges currently facing Scotland, a number of other sectors are delivering outstanding results and firmly positioning our country among the most successful nations in the global marketplace.

2015 was Scotlands Year of Food and Drink, with businesses throughout the country working together to promote a true modern success story. That collaboration and entrepreneurial focus appears to have paid off. Our research suggests Food and Drink is now clearly the top sector in Scotland Ltd 2015 with strong results in all areas from operating profit to employee numbers.

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Another industry that once faced similar challenges to Oil and Gas, is Property and Construction. In Scotland Ltd 2014, we highlighted a sector in recovery mode. Businesses that had been hit hard by the global economic downturn were slowly re-building. That determined, resilient focus seems to have paid off with Property and Construction once again performing strongly in our research.

Amid growing international uncertainty both politically and economically Scotland's business community appears to be more agile than ever before. Our data highlights a number of so-called 'disrupter brands' exciting new emerging businesses looking to empower consumers and reshape how we do business. The impact of these companies is already being felt in Scotland, with increasing inward investment in areas such as FinTech, combining our country's rich history in Financial Services with the exciting recent boom in Technology.

The top 100 limited companies featured in this year's report all have certain common traits. They are achieving growth by innovating, collaborating with others and taking a resilient long-term approach to success. Scotland Ltd 2015 aims to offer a snapshot of these businesses and our economy. With insight from some of those successful industry leaders and expert analysis, we will explore exactly what is powering Scotland's vibrant economy and look at how we can improve to deliver further growth.

While challenges remain, we should also celebrate Scotland's dynamic, entrepreneurial spirit.

Kevin Engel Managing Partner, ScotlandGrant Thornton UK

6 Scotland Ltd 2015

About Scotland Ltd 2015

Scotland Ltd 2015 is compiled using the most recent publicly available accounts (as of 1 September 2015) of Scotlands best performing private businesses based on a hybrid measure of turnover and profits.

The report excludes companies that are listed, owned by listed businesses, or the subsidiaries of companies from the rest of the UK or overseas. We have then analysed the aggregate financial data of these companies to gain an insight into the shape and performance of this important part of the Scottish economy, and one which is fundamental to generating prosperity and employment in the country. In our findings, weve categorised companies by sector and location. Again, this is to provide us with insight into economic trends and to give us a more detailed understanding of how various industries are performing.

Inevitably, there is a time delay between the availability of the data used and the presentation of this report. However, weve worked hard to create parameters and measurement tools that produce as accurate a snapshot of Scotlands entrepreneurial, dynamic businesses as possible.

Scotland Ltd 2015 7

Grand Total Automotive and Motor Retail

Business Support

Energy Food and Drink (inc. Leisure)

Other* Property and Construction

Retail and Wholesale

Turnover (000) 22,324,860 6,458,814 1,279,708 1,268,768 4,137,173 2,409,222 2,641,142 4,130,033

Operating Profit (000) 1,456,571 184,269 59,654 176,063 520,171 195,678 128,234 192,502

Average Operating margin (%) 9.42 1.82 8.86 22.32 14.34 12.61 5.84 5.01

EBITDA (000) 2,052,631 353,063 94,350 207,933 673,129 255,983 163,315 304,858

Employees No. 116,284 19,415 9,283 6,649 18,680 21,687 12,639 27,931

Average salary cost (000) 40 30 30 46 35 67 40 34

Fixed Assets (000) 7,743,652 1,217,972 359,556 512,996 2,732,429 1,581,214 306,714 1,032,771

Net Current Assets (000) 3,911,193 23,192 42,065 412,348 1,009,118 644,925 1,434,292 345,253

Bank & Deposits (000) 1,543,538 188,686 53,159 84,049 257,219 444,406 302,179 213,840

Shareholders Funds (000) 8,426,265 985,958 306,224 636,808 2,441,041 1,936,214 1,032,095 1,087,925

Average Interest Coverage (%) 411.34 26.28 47.28 68.91 499.72 742.79 143.12 757.88

Long Term Debt (000) 3,245,641 293,519 74,049 191,873 916,260 49,959 1,412,622 307,359

Breakdown of fundamentals by sector

Other businesses:

Fund Management and investment 5 Timber and Paper 3 Pharmaceutical 1

Engineering and Manufacturing 4 Technology 1 Media 1

8 Scotland Ltd 2015

Scotland's top 100 limited companies1 William Grant & Sons Holdings Limited

2 Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited

3 The Edrington Group Limited

4 The Miller Group (UK) Limited

5 The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (Group) Limited

6 Farmfoods Limited

7 GEG (Holdings) Limited

8 Wood Mackenzie Limited

9 Robertson Group (Holdings) Limited

10 D.C. Thomson & Company Limited

11 Walter Scott & Partners Limited

12 Alexander Dennis Limited

13 Turner & Co. (Glasgow) Limited

14 Parks of Hamilton (Holdings) Limited

15 John Clark (Holdings) Limited

16 Cala Group Limited

17 Craig Group Limited

18 City Refrigeration Holdings (UK) Limited

19 Eastern Holdings Limited

20 James Jones & Sons Limited

21 Bartlett International Holdings Limited

22 Peter Vardy Holdings Limited

23 Murray Capital Group Limited

24 J.R. Dalziel Limited

25 Kent Foods Limited

26 The Malcolm Group Limited

27 Walkers Shortbread Limited

28 GAP Holdings Limited

29 John Maclean And Sons Electrical (Dingwall) Limited

30 ABA Eaglesham Limited

31 Orion Engineering Services Limited

32 BSW Timber Limited

33 Hunter Boot Limited

34 Peoples Limited

35 Browns Food Group Limited

36 Ogilvie Group Limited

37 Lunar Fishing Company Limited

38 Scottish Midland Co-Operative Society Limited

39 First Milk Limited

40 James Walker (Leith) Limited

41 Stewart Milne Group Limited

42 Burntisland Fabrications Limited

43 S.A.H. Limited

44 Skyscanner Holdings Limited

45 Edinburgh Partners Limited

46 United Wholesale (Scotland) Limited

47 R.J. Mcleod (Contractors) Limited

48 Saltire Energy Limited

49 Macrae & Dick Limited

50 Cruden Holdings Limited

51 J.W. Galloway Limited

52 Scottish Leather Group Limited

53 Klondyke Fishing Company Limited

54 Highland Fuels (Investments) Limited

55 C.J. Lang & Son Limited

56 Macdonald Hotels Limited

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57 G1 Group (Holdings) PLC

58 The Benriach Distillery Company Limited

59 Ethigen Limited

60 Forth Holdings Limited

61 Gray & Adams Holdings Limited

62 Dingbro Limited

63 Mactaggart & Mickel Group Limited

64 Ian Macleod Distillers Limited

65 The McCurrach Gr