Left: Members of the Scotts Feeds board in 2000 (clockwise from top left): David Garrett, Siobhan Kelly, Des Given, William McAusland, Robert Scott (Chairman) and Fred Charters. Fred Charters and William McAusland both played a pivotal role in the successful transition from family to Fane Valley ownership, with Fred remaining in post until 2007. William retired in 2012 having overseen the building, commissioning and first two years of production of the new mill. David Garrett became managing director of Fane Valley Feeds in 2010
centre of production in Omagh, the ideal new owner would be one with both the will to invest substantially and access to a significant amount of capital. Robert Scott and Fred Charters were tasked with the major
the last quarter of the century. He succeeded Roy as production director in 1995, when Roy reached retiring age. In 1996, the year that I retired, Robert Scott became non-executive
chairman, with Fred Charters taking on the responsibility of managing director. From about 1994, it had become apparent to the board that various factors pointed to the need for an exit strategy for the family, who would thereby relinquish ownership of the business. Another matter was the continuing expansion in sales, and a
growing realisation that the maximum productive capacity of the Omagh mill, even when running at full tilt on three shifts, was placing a limitation on the growth in tonnage that was achievable in our territory. The best way to illustrate this is, yet again, to recall some annual sales tonnage figures: In 1980, the year’s tonnage was sixty-three thousand tonnes, in
1990 sixty-seven thousand, in 2000 it was ninety-seven thousand, in 2005 one hundred and thirty-seven thousand tonnes, the maximum capacity of the existing mill as the next three years’ outputs were almost identical.
Family Exit In about 1995, the Scotts Feeds board had recognised that the 150-year-old buildings on the Omagh site were no longer fit for the purposes of a company whose trade was so closely allied to human food consumption, with all that the increasing stringency of food safety regulations demanded. Even in the absence of detailed costings, it was obvious that the capital expenditure for this would be out of proportion to the likely borrowing capacity of a family-owned company, albeit by now a profitable concern. Crucially, after William McAusland’s likely retiring date of 2012, there would be no family members working in an executive capacity in the company. A purchaser needed to be found, even though there was no immediacy. If the business was to continue to thrive, and to keep its
responsibility of finding a prospective buyer and doing a deal that was acceptable to both parties. This process required total confidentiality. While the search and negotiations were in progress, it was necessary to exclude non-family board members from the full knowledge of what was afoot. David Graham, then chief executive of Fane Valley Agricultural
Co-Operative Society, had previously expressed interest. He was approached and Fane Valley seemed to provide the perfect fit. A sale contract was signed in the year 2000. Robert Scott and David Scott resigned from the board of Scotts
Feeds, by arrangement, at the time of the Fane Valley Co-Op takeover. Fred Charters remained as managing director until 2007, and William McAusland as production director until 2012.
New Mill Investment In 2007, the year that Fred Charters retired, there was a decision by the Fane Valley board that something bigger and better was both urgently needed and fully justified. There was insufficient space to do so on the Mountjoy Road site in Omagh.
(bottom): David Garrett - happy to be in the new mill Right (top): The Doogary mill commissioned in 2010
PAGE 26 MARCH/APRIL 2021 FEED COMPOUNDER
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