Laundry company in administration

One of Scotland's largest independent laundry and dry cleaning businesses has gone into administration.

Aberdeen-based Scotia Linen Services employs 108 staff at 19 sites, joint administrator Iain Fraser said.

He said 17 people had already been made redundant after the closure of premises at Whitburn in West Lothian, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

But Mr Fraser said he was hopeful a buyer would be found to allow the business to continue.

Scotia Linen, which has its headquarters in Aberdeen, has an annual turnover of £2m.

It has 18 other sites, six of which provide industrial scale laundry facilities for corporate clients, including hotels and ferries.

'Skilled workforce'

The remaining 12 are based in residential areas and provide general consumer laundry and dry cleaning services.

Mr Fraser, of administrators Tenon Recovery, said: "Scotia Linen Services is a highly regarded specialist laundry and dry cleaning business with a good network of sites and a skilled workforce.

"The company has grown steadily and has an excellent corporate client base and good penetration into the retail market. This is a good opportunity for an established player wanting to expand through acquisition, or for an entrepreneur keen to move into the cleaning sector.

"However we regret that in order to enable the business to continue trading, we have had to close premises in Whitburn and shops in Newtown in Edinburgh, George Street in Aberdeen and Cornhill in Aberdeen, resulting in 17 redundancies."