Shah family textiles business sold to Vision Linens
Family owned textiles and commodities trading firm, Swiscot Group has been sold to Vision Linens Global, part of the Westpoint Group, one of the world’s largest textiles companies.
Based in Blackburn, and founded in 2005, Vision supplies textiles to leading hotel brands across the world, as well as major retailers and the Ministry of Defence in its Government Division.
Chief executive Vikas Shah, a well-known Manchester entrepreneur who currently serves as a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, will leave the business, but is temporarily remaining on-board to support the business during the transition phase.
All members of the Shah family have resigned from the board of directors and Vision Linens Global is now recorded as the controlling party in the business.
Vision has confirmed the deal has taken place but at the time of press hadn’t responded with any further details.
Since 1968, Swiscot has supplied textiles to a diverse range of markets ranging from high street retailers to hotels, universities, restaurants, gyms, cruise ships to airlines and expanded into fashion clothing and accessories for the first time in 2022 with white label and private label products including jersey, knitwear, outerwear, denim, hosiery and accessories.
According to the latest set of accounts for the year ending December 2023, Swiscot recorded turnover of £10.6m producing EBITDA of £285,000. Interest payments of £248, 794 pushed the business into a small pre-tax loss of £5,586.
Vision was acquired in 2019 by Westpoint Group which has headquarters locations in New York and Manchester, UK; production facilities in Bahrain and Florida; and sourcing, distribution and logistics offices in the US, UK, Middle East, China, Pakistan, and India.
The popular and well-known Vikas Shah won’t be short of things to do. He’s also a Non-Executive Board Member of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and a Non-Executive Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
He’s also a venture-investor in a number of businesses internationally, a Non-Executive Board Member of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Shoosmiths LLP and in 2021 became a Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater Manchester Lieutenancy.
He is an Honorary Professor of Business at the Alliance Business School, University of Manchester, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Lancaster. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) by the University of Salford in November 2022.
