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Allied Vehicles

Scotland’s Manufacturing 100 companies are as diverse in ownership as they are in activity. We have picked five to illustrate the international ownership structures that now sit behind some of the country’s largest industrial employers.

Of the five, only one is controlled by the family that founded the firm.

The rest report into head offices in Texas, Tyrol and Toulouse, or to private equity. International capital is flowing into Scotland’s manufacturing base, and the healthy signs are that crucial projects are not shifting overseas as a result.

Cirrus Logic’s Edinburgh operation is developing platform for energy smart meters with core intellectual property being held in Scotland rather than executed to someone else’s design. Prestwick moved from a distressed American supplier to Airbus in December, resolving a question that had hung over the Ayrshire wing plant since Spirit’s difficulties began.

Aggreko’s Lomondgate site has been designated the group’s global manufacturing centre of excellence and trebled capacity to justify the move. BSW has put £125 million into its estate since 2012, with Dalbeattie and Fort William taking a substantial share.

Allied Vehicles is the outlier. Family-owned, it took a decision during Covid to pay skilled staff to paint walls and assemble cookers rather than let the expertise leave, and added roughly £150m of turnover in the three years since.

International ownership brings access to deeper pools of capital, but it is doubtful many boards would have made that call. Independent control means fast decisions, and that is often worth more than it costs.

Scottish Engineering’s third quarterly survey shows the pressures behind the numbers. Staffing rose 14 per cent and training investment was up 17 per cent.

However, order intake slowed from 17 to 8 per cent, and export orders fell back 2 per cent.

This reversed recent gains. Optimism returned at 7 per cent, but the gain is skewed by size – large firms improved 50 per cent while small ones slipped a point.

ALLIED VEHICLES

Europe’s largest manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles dominates some 65 per cent of the UK market and has added roughly £150m of turnover in three years, reaching a total of £328m recording profits of £25m.

The Glasgow company retained its skilled workforce through Covid, redeploying staff for mundane painting and assembly work rather than lose their expertise entirely, and so was ready when supply returned.

Founded in 1993 and family owned, it employs more than 800 people and is expanding directly into Europe.

Aggreko

Aggreko’s Dunbartonshire site, the company’s global manufacturing centre of excellence, has trebled capacity in a year, lifted build efficiency 14 per cent and delivered a $16m (£11.7m) improvement in profitability through the introduction of revised layouts, tighter planning and dual sourcing of critical components.

New products include a packaged 1.5MW gas generator, a mobile modular transformer substation, and a synchronous condenser Aggreko says is a first of its kind.

Lomondgate recruits 16 apprentices a year and sits behind a five-year product roadmap.

The company is currently exploring its options for a public listing.

BSW TIMBER

Founded in Earlston in the Borders in 1848, BSW Timber is now the UK’s largest sawmilling company, with 11 manufacturing sites across Britain and Latvia producing certified timber for construction, fencing, decking, cladding and pallets.

The company has invested £125m since 2012, lifting capacity beyond 350,000 cubic metres. Fort William employs more than 200 people, processes 500,000 cubic metres of roundwood a year and supports an estimated 600 further jobs.

Bark, chips and sawdust go to pulp, panel board and horticulture.

CIRRUS LOGIC

Edinburgh is Cirrus Logic’s largest engineering base outside the United States and the site of its push beyond consumer audio products.

The semiconductor group posted record revenue of $1.5 billion (£1.10bn) in 2026.

In December, its haptic drivers were the first Cirrus product qualified to the automotive AEC-Q100 standard, and Edinburgh engineers are now developing a metrology platform for smart meters, backed by a Scottish Enterprise grant and a Strathclyde partnership, with applications in EV charging and grid monitoring.

SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS

Airbus took direct ownership of the Ayrshire wing plant in December 2025, ending nearly two decades under Spirit AeroSystems and rebranding the 1,300-strong site as Prestwick Aerosystems.

The enterprise makes leading edges, trailing edges and spoilers for the A320 and A350 families of aircraft, utilisingout-of-autoclave resin transfer moulding to produce complex composite structures in a single step.

The plant works with NMIS, ADS and education partners on skills, and is now a direct affiliate of the European manufacturer.