New buyer in the wings for Carloway mill
22 February 2017
The Carloway mill on Lewis is expected to be bought by a new owner this month, sparking hopes of saving jobs at the Harris Tweed manufacturing facility.
Negotiations are at an advance stage with outline details of the proposed deal expected to be revealed within days.
Seventeen people are employed at the mill which is presently working a three-
Annie Macdonald, the mill’s operations manager hopes a deal will go-
She said: “We are hopeful this signals a positive future for the Carloway Mill.”
This time last year the troubled business was considering calling administrators and the mill was marketed for sale for a “modest price” in a final attempt to save jobs.
At the time, company boss Derek Reid said the business the mill just needed £200,000 to £250,000 to keep afloat.
This would provide sufficient working capital to survive and “allow time to address the issues to get long term investment in the mill.”
No rescue package materialised but Mr Reid ploughed in his own cash to allow the firm to survive.
Recently, the company announced it planned to launch a new soft and light style of Harris Tweed for the fashion industry.