FINANCE DIRECTOR

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

PATERSON ARRAN

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Welcome

Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in these key senior leadership roles with Paterson Arran.

Paterson Arran is a great company to work for. Built on strong shared values and with a long and proud heritage stretching all the way back to 1895, we have come a long way since Mr & Mrs Paterson started baking and selling oatcakes from their kitchen in Rutherglen. We don’t rest on our laurels and over the last 10 years we have doubled our turnover.

Still independently owned and operating out of two manufacturing sites in Livingston and the Isle of Arran, we are an ambitious, forward-looking business producing a range of shortbread, oatcakes, biscuits, chutneys and mustards for today’s consumer.

You might readily associate with some of our products – Paterson’s Shortbread of course, or Arran Mustard.  Some others might surprise you; we’re the team who make Bronte biscuits for instance.  We also make some of the ingredients that you might find in your favourite pizza restaurant, or in a supermarket sandwich!  You’ll find our products all over the UK, in stores, on trains and in hotels.  You’ll increasingly find them whilst travelling or in overseas markets as millions of our packs are carried every year and served on cruise ships, ferries and on major airlines.

As a result of a reorganisation to equip us for the next stage of our journey, we have two great leadership opportunities. For both roles we are looking for someone to join our Executive Committee to help us drive our strategic agenda. We’ve got some hugely exciting plans for the years ahead and the ambition, drive and resources to make them a reality.

You will need to be able to demonstrate strong functional expertise, great leadership skills, commercial and business acumen, and a collaborative work style. And you will need to share our values.

If you think you have what it takes to help us deliver on our ambition, and you like the sound of Paterson Arran, we’d love to hear from you.

I wish you well with your application.

Sean Austin
Managing Director

The Paterson Arran journey has been a far call from what the Patersons of Rutherglen would ever have dreamed of back in 1895 when they started selling home-baked oatcakes.

Having gone through a number of changes in ownership during the 60s, 70s and 80s, the company ended up in the portfolio of what is now Edrington as they expanded away from their core market of whisky. In the early 90s, Paterson’s was merged with The Bronte Biscuit Company, which was also part of The Edrington portfolio, and, in 1994, Paterson’s was merged with Arran Provisions – another Edrington food business. This latter merger was led by the current Finance Director, Ian Appleton.

To ensure the success of the newly merged business, in 1995, they brought in Alan Hardie as Managing Director and, following an unsuccessful trade sale, but comfortable in the knowledge they had a great business, Alan and Ian led an MBO. Edrington, positive about the company, retained a small share of the business (24.9%) which it continues to hold to this day.

Over the last 25 years the company has developed through organic growth which has seen them double their turnover since 2006 to c£25m with a net profit of c£2.2m and a very strong balance sheet.

The company has a strong portfolio of brands which are easily recognised from their regular appearance in the multiples, foodservice, leisure, gift and travel sectors:

The company has retained the pride in their products and the strong sense of responsibility that has served them well for over 120 years, and has clear ambitions for the business going forward.

Although primarily a brand manufacturer, the company is also a strong player in the private label sector with a wide portfolio of blue chip customers.

The changes currently underway provide the opportunity to join a business which is strong financially and has a successful product range, expanding markets, strong technical capability and a settled work force. The planned changes within the executive team allow the opportunity to step into positions of strength and bring your own style and experience to drive further growth and efficiencies.

As part of a planned retirement, Alan Hardie has stepped down as Managing Director and taken on the role of Non-Executive Chairman. Ian Appleton, current Finance Director, is also retiring later in 2018 and will become a Non-Executive Director of the business.

The role of Managing Director has been assumed by Sean Austin, who has been the Operations Director for the last four years. This has created two senior openings for both a Finance Director and an Operations Director which are being sourced simultaneously.

Both newly recruited positions will sit on the Executive Committee alongside Sean Austin, Managing Director, Allan Miller, Commercial Director and Karen Jones, Head of Sales.

FINANCE DIRECTOR

As the senior finance lead in the business you will ensure the continued tight fiscal management the business has enjoyed for many years. This is a key role in optimising total business performance and company value. The job holder is a member of the Executive Committee, attends Board meetings and must provide leadership beyond his/her functional responsibility. In particular, the job holder provides expert guidance to the MD and Executive team and is a major contributor to the development and implementation of The Company’s strategic plans. The focus of the role is to lead the finance team to:

  • Ensure full compliance with all relevant accounting standards, regulatory requirements and company accounting policies, procedures and standards
  • Ensure appropriate financial controls and safeguards are in place
  • Provide a comprehensive, best-in-class, finance service to the business including: rigorous analysis of the financial performance of the business, expert insight into the key drivers of the “numbers” & decision support and investment appraisal
Download Position Profile

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

This is a key role in optimising total business performance and company value. The job holder is a member of the Executive Committee and must provide leadership beyond his/her functional responsibility. In particular, the job holder is a major contributor to the development and implementation of the company’s strategic plans. The chosen candidate will be accountable for a revenue budget of >£3M p.a., an annual capital expenditure budget of up to £1.5M and a raw materials and packaging purchasing spend of circa £10M. Over 90% of the Company’s employees are in the Operations function, and the Livingston bakery is unionised, so people engagement and maintaining good industrial relations are critical elements of this role. Previous knowledge of a unionised environment will be very beneficial. The key focus of this role is to lead the Operations Team to:

  • Optimise customer service (OTIF delivery), product quality and total supply chain cost
  • Ensure full QSHE, food safety and GMP regulatory compliance, and compliance with all relevant Company standards, policies and procedures
  • Implement best practice throughout the Operations function
Download Position Profile

The recruitment for this position is being managed by advising consultants, Livingston James. In the first instance interested candidates should contact, Ben Walker or Kirsty Sim at: [email protected] or [email protected] or on 0131 220 2009.

First stage interviews will be face to face or by Skype if geography makes the former prohibitive. The following stages will be with Paterson Arran at their offices in Livingston.

All third-party applications, enquiries and direct approaches to Paterson Arran will be referred to Livingston James.

The recruitment of this position is managed by Livingston James