Inverarity Morton invests in £400k restructure

Published: 29 February, 2012

Inverarity Morton, the company formed from the merger of Scotland's Inverarity Vaults and Wm Morton, is to invest £400,000 in a reorganisation.

The first steps in the reorganisation include the rebranding, a revamped wine portfolio as well as moving operations to its Glasgow Shawbridge facility and closing its Symington distribution depot.

Managing director Stephen Russell said: "When we merged the companies six months ago, we chose to trade as two separate businesses over the short term so we could assess where efficiencies could be made in the future. It would have been counter-productive to rush through.

"We have now completed this assessment and drawn two conclusions: we are overstaffed in certain areas of the business and it is unnecessary for us to continue to run two distribution depots."

Inverarity Morton is now one of Scotland's largest independent drinks distributors with a combined turnover of over £50m and workforce of 150. There will be investment throughout the year in upgrading back office, stock management and delivery software systems and new vehicles added to the fleet. Three staff lost their jobs.

Since the merger in July 2011, the company has retained its 2,000 plus clients, which include the Di Maggio's and G1 groups and all Michelin-starred restaurants in Scotland.

In 2010 Wm Morton - the wholesale drinks subsidiary of A Bulloch (Agencies) - reported an annual turnover of £46 million, up 10% year on year. Specialist fine wine merchant Inverarity Vaults, turned over £8.2 million, a rise of 11% on the previous year.

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