SIB funding gives Loch Duart passport to new markets

Siri Elise Dybdal

Loch Duart Limited, producer of the salmon served at the 2011 Royal Wedding and this year’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, hopes that the funding, which comes from the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), together with new Scottish Venture Fund (SVF) partner Capricorn Investment Group, will allow it to take advantage of new international opportunities.

“We’re in a fortunate position,” said Loch Duart Commercial Director Alan Balfour. “Demand for our product is growing all the time. We need to expand our operations to keep up with that demand and to continue competing on an international level. This funding from the Scottish Investment Bank means we can make the changes we need to make while safeguarding jobs and, as we expand, creating new ones.”

Loch Duart became the first salmon farm in the world to be approved under the Freedom Food scheme.The company has become one of the big success stories of the Scottish food and drink industry, with clients including some of the world’s finest establishments such as the French Laundry in California and the Goring hotel in London.

With international demand for Scottish salmon at an all time high, the company is keen to ensure that it can continue to take advantage of the opportunities presented by export markets.

“We’ve worked hard to make this company what it is today. We’ve been largely self-funded and we’ve grown into an important organisation in a Scottish market.

“We needed help to make the next step, and thanks to SIB and Capricorn we’re now in a position to take it. We’re very much looking forward to continuing to push ourselves over the next few years, and to seeing our company continue to develop and grow into an international force,” Balfour says.