Associated Seafoods acquires Lossie Seafoods

Associated Seafoods acquires Lossie Seafoods to secure a strong base in the premium export market for smoked salmon.

Associated Seafoods Ltd has acquired smoked salmon producer Lossie Seafoods Ltd with the new owner planning to further develop the Buckie- based company’s growing export business to premium markets around the world.

The acquisition – for an undisclosed sum – is the first made by Associated Seafoods Ltd, with funding for the purchase coming from Scottish Seafood Investments Ltd.

Scottish Seafood Investments is a joint venture company recently established by The Scottish Salmon Company PLC (SSC) and Northern Link and was set up to invest into companies engaged in the value-added processing of salmon, and other seafood. Lossie Seafoods currently purchases the majority of its salmon from SSC and its acquisition by Associated Seafoods will provide even closer synergies between the two companies.

Directors John Cowe and Charlie Devin, of Lossie Seafoods, say: “The quality of the salmon we source from the Scottish Salmon Company is superb and this acquisition underlines the extremely good relationship between the two companies, which will provide exciting new opportunities.

We are extremely proud of the quality of the smoking process undertaken by our skilled staff, which has enabled us to develop a strong export market for premium Scottish smoked salmon to some of the best hotels and restaurants in the world.”

Bill Hazeldean, chairman of Associated Seafoods, says: “The company will now move to use its considerable expertise in the seafood sector to further diversify Lossie Seafoods’ strong export base of niche, quality bespoke salmon to premium clientele.

We are delighted with the acquisition of Lossie Seafoods. A big attraction to us was the highly skilled workforce who are dedicated to producing smoked salmon of the highest quality.”

Lossie Seafoods employs around 50 people at its Buckie processing facility and over the years has won several awards for the quality of its products and its export success. The main export markets are in Italy and Switzerland, and company’s strategy has been to focus on the premium customers, especially in emerging markets. For example, it pioneered Scottish smoked salmon sales to Mexico, which are now growing at over 35% per annum. Other pioneered markets are Jordan, Lebanon and Hawaii. It was also the first Scottish salmon smoker to be approved by the Russian Federation.

Victor West has been appointed as the new managing director of Lossie Seafoods. He joins the company from Food Partners Ltd, where he was business development director. Prior to then, he was supply chain director at Macrae Group and has considerable knowledge and experience of the seafood industry.

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