CR Smith sees window of opportunity to expand

Windows and conservatories business CR Smith says it plans to expand outside Scotland and grow its workforce after reporting the fifth consecutive year of turnover growth by its core business.

CR Smith executive chairman Gerard Eadie at the firm's Dunfermline headquarters

Sales by CR Smith Glaziers reached £21.4 million for the year to end-February, up from £19.6m in the previous year. Its operating profit fell to £169,000 from £2.6m, but the latter benefited from a one-off payment of £4.3m.

Separate entity CR Smith Manufacturing also saw its operating profit fall, again to about £169,000 from £273,000, as turnover edged up to £7.3m from £7.1m.

Gerard Eadie, executive chairman and owner of Dunfermline-based CR Smith, told The Scotsman: “I’m delighted with the way things are going.”

Eadie highlighted a “huge” expansion programme, with investment in the likes of high-tech machinery, and said he planned to increase the group’s headcount, at about 430 currently, in line with company growth.

He said: “We’ve got an established Scottish business but we’ve got to expand geographically.”

Eadie added that growing into England was “something that we’ve got to actively pursue”.

Looking at the results overall, he said it has been CR Smith’s ability “to provide the customer with a product that they can be proud of that has given us the edge in a very competitive sector”.