Northumberland firm agrees deal to expand grain storage capacity north of the border

It has agreed to buy the grain merchanting business of W.N. Lindsay Ltd which would see it operate four of its Scottish stores within a new subsidiary company.

The acquisition, which is subject to ongoing due diligence, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The four stores, which are situated at Gladsmuir in East Lothian, Stracathro in Angus, Keith in Morayshire and Sidlaw in Perthshire, will further securing the malting barley supply chain and enhancing traceability for both the grower and end user.

The acquisition comes two months after Simpsons Malt announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire 40 acres of land in Rothes, Speyside, subject to planning and due diligence, where it intends to build a state-of-the-art maltings with malting barley storage facilities, increasing its number of sites in the UK from two to three.

Andrew Lindsay, managing director of W.N. Lindsay Ltd, said: “I believe Simpsons Malt’s vision for the future aligns closely to that of our colleagues, suppliers and customers.”

Tim McCreath, managing director of Simpsons Malt, added: “W.N. Lindsay Ltd is an established, well- known family business with an excellent reputation in Scottish and UK agriculture and we are delighted to have the opportunity to acquire its grain merchanting business.

“This combination provides a strategic opportunity to further secure our malting barley supply chain, as well as to increase our product and service offering to our growers.

“All suppliers within the cereal supply chain are increasingly accountable to the end user and even the consumer – particularly on product traceability and sustainability – and as a pivotal buyer of malting barley and supplier of malt, we are ideally placed to play a leading role in improving supply chain management for the benefit of our growers, as well as our distilling and brewing customers.

“W.N. Lindsay Ltd’s people and infrastructure will complement our own and, together with our ongoing investment in business systems and processes, this acquisition will be a positive step for the entire cereal and malt supply chain.”

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper. If you can, please do pick up a copy when you are at the shops. Thank you for your support.