LAKELAND Smolt yesterday announced it had agreed to buy two fish farms in Argyll in a £2.45 million deal.
The Norwegian-owned company bought the salmon licences and equipment from Lighthouse Caledonia, which has its head office in Paisley.
The two farms – at Armaddy and Port Na Gile – will boost Lakeland Smolt's salmon production by about 15 per cent,
adding 1,500 tonnes to its existing 10,500-tonne output.
The deal is expected to be completed in September.
As well as the existing farms, applications for two more salmon farming licenses have also transferred to Lakeland Smolt, which could lift production by a further 1,300 tonnes.
William Liston, the managing director of Lakeland Group, said it was too early to consider the job implications at the farms but added he thought extra labour may be needed.
Lakeland already has several sites in Argyll.
Liston added: "The main reason for taking over these sites is that we cannot satisfy our present customer base. They will help us to meet the demand that's there.
"About 55 per cent of our salmon goes to the UK market, while the remainder goes to Europe and America.
"We are one of the major suppliers of Label Rouge, the famous French brand, and both of these new sites will contribute to Label Rouge production."
Lakeland Group's other sites in Scotland are on Shetland and in Sutherland.
Its hatchery and UK head office are in Cumbria.
Liston added that Lakeland was the only integrated salmon company in Scotland.
The full article contains 261 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
