Scottish Food Quality Certification Ltd (SFQC), Scotland’s leading food certification business, has been acquired by Certus Compliance Group, a new company established to drive forward SFQC’s growth plans.
Date:
Tue, 07 Jun 2011
Source:
SFQC
The new venture announced yesterday (Monday June 6th) will give SFQC support through development investment and ensure its continued growth and that of the unique certification services it provides.
The company will continue to trade as SFQC and retain its focus on farmers and growers, and food safety, whilst broadening its offer to include sustainable and responsible sourcing, environment and quality systems as well as traceability services. The company will continue to prioritise its customer base in Scotland.
Tim Bailey, who has overseen SFQC’s development as Chief Executive for the last three years, remains in post as CEO, and joins the management team of the new group. Tim will continue to be supported by his existing team and there will therefore be no change to SFQC’s high quality services, or its staffing.
This exciting collaboration means that SFQC founder and shareholder, Peter Brown, and his fellow SFQC director-shareholders, David Whiteford OBE and Margaret Seaton, have become shareholders in Certus Compliance.
They join other Certus shareholders, the Certus management team (David Peace, Steve Belton, Tim Bailey and Robert Morgan) and Canter Equity Partners. Canter supports established companies with strong growth opportunities, particularly in the compliance-based sector.
Peter Brown commented, “We welcome this new chapter in SFQC’s development. We are pleased that Certus have recognised the strengths of the business – a great staff team, strong management and excellent client relationships. It’s an ideal platform for growth.”
David Peace, Certus Chief Executive and Steve Belton, Certus Chief Operations Officer, both have extensive experience in food and non-food certification. They will be supported by Robert Morgan, Certus Chairman.
David Peace said, “SFQC’s expertise and integrity is widely recognised, and the company has consistently served its food and farming customers to the highest level since its formation. From that perspective alone, it was therefore a natural choice for Certus when seeking to begin its operations.”