Glasgow-based Shearer Candles fulfils burning ambition

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 30/09/2012 00:00

A FAMILY-RUN candle-­making business in Glasgow has signed the first licensing deal in its 115-year history, under which it will supply products to the Victoria & ­Albert Museum’s gift shop in London.

Shearer Candles, which turns over £3 million a year and employs 50 people, also won a contract to supply ­candles to super­market chain Sainsbury’s, which go on sale next month.

Sales director Jeremy Lane said: “If you listen to the doom-mongers, you’d think the economy had collapsed and no-one is doing anything. It’s far from the case.”

Lane said a recent trade show in Birmingham had been the “busiest ever” for the company, which was founded in 1897 and was taken over by the Barnet family in 1972.

The company credits is success to investment in new equipment during the 1970s when the miners strike sent candle production “into overdrive” and gave Shearer ­Candles “a new lease of life”. The Barnet family also shifted the company’s focus on to “high-end lifestyle candles”. In 2009 the firm – which lists BHS, M&Co and Waitrose among its clients – completed a two-year investment programme, during which it pumped £700,000 into its Glasgow plant.

Lane said exports account for about 10 per cent of turnover, and he expects those sales to double over the next year. The company recently signed distribution agreements in Italy, Kuwait and the Netherlands, adding to its roster of existing markets, which includes Japan, New Zealand and Scandinavia.