Highland Spring Group

From WikiCorporates
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Highland Spring is a privately-held, tax-haven registered, supplier of bottled water. Despite the name, none of the water is from within the Scottish Highlands - its still and sparkling water is produced at its 5 factories in Scotland and Wales.ref The company claims to be the UK's largest bottled water company.ref

Brands

  • Highland Spring water is sourced from a privately-owned catchment area in the Ochil Hills, Perthshire. The land which rain falls on, and drains through, is certified organic by the Soil Association. Website
  • Speyside Glenlivet is sourced from the highest naturally occurring spring in the UK on the Crown Estate of Glenlivet in Scotland. The spring produces water with an unusually low mineral content.ref, website
  • Hydr8 ia a budget cash-and-carry brand, geared towards cash-conscious customers. It is sold primarily through specialist food service distributors and cash-and-carry outlets.ref, website page
  • Private label: a range of private label ("own-brand") flavoured and unflavoured waters wholesaled to supermarkets and food service retailers.ref, About

Plastic Pollution

The Highland Spring Group bottles 600+ million litres of water per year,[1] potentially generating the same number of single-use plastic bottles. The Group is attempting to use rPET for its plastic bottles,[2] but that does not help the problem.

Pollution-Water-Plastic.svg
Recycling Plastics Will Not Solve the Pollution Problem. Most plastic can only be recycled once, then it's plastic waste.[1] Others, eg. PET and HDPE, can be recycled 8-10 times, then they're plastic waste.[2] Bioplastics can be recycled, but need expen$ive processing.[3] Every piece of the 8.3bn tons of plastic ever made still exists (excluding incinerated).[4]

The UK generates ~5.2m tons every year:[5] ~26% → abroad (we don't have the recycling infrastructure);[6] 55% → landfill (remains there indefinitely, contaminating groundwater); 18% → incinerated (dioxins, furans, heavy metals, CO2-intensive); ~1% → litter. [7]

Recycling is not a solution because (a) it does not stop the continuous flow of new, virgin, single-use plastic disposable products that enter our environment every single day; and (b) only ~7% of plastic can be recycled.[8]

Company

Ownership

Structure

  • Park Tower Holdings Establishment, OC, reg. Liechtenstein Flag-Liechtenstein.svg
    •  ?... ...?
    • Ochil Holdings Ltd, OC, reg. Gibraltar Flag-Gibraltar.svg
      • Hope Sixteen (No. 87) Ltd, reg. Scotland, CH
        • Highland Spring Ltd, CH
          • Gleneagles Spring Water Company Ltd, dormant, CH
          • Speyside Glenlivet (HSL) Company Ltd, CH
          • Lothian Shelf (674) Ltd, CH
          • Highland Renewables Ltd, CH
        • Highland Spring Inc, OC, reg. Delaware Flag-Delaware.svg

Timeline

Product Family, History

Nov.2015
Suntory-Holdings-2005.svg
Entered into a long-term distribution agreement with Lucozade Ribena Suntory, representing ~30% of the company's sales volume.
Mar.2010 Greencore Water: Greencore Group plc's bottled water division was acquired. The deal included two bottling facilities at Campsie Fells (Scotland) and Blaen Twyni (Wales). ref,ref
2010Gleneagles Spring Water Company Ltd was hived up into Highland Spring Ltd; the company then ceased trading, as did Watermedia Ltd.
Mar.2009 Speyside Glenlivet (HSL) Company Ltd acquired Speyside Glenlivet Water Company Ltd,CH which had the rights of extraction of natural mineral water from two springs on the Glenlivet EstateWikipedia-W.svg in the Cairngorms National Park - part of the Crown Estate.
Apr.2001 Gleneagles Spring Water Company Ltd was acquired from Time Holdings Ltd,CH an indirect subsidiary of Theta Overseas Ltd, reg. British Virgin Islands.
2001 Watermedia Ltd was acquired; it bottled and distributed water as a promotional product.OC
2001 Soil Association Certified: Water itself cannot be certified, but the catchment area - the land rain falls on - can.ref Highland Spring water is drawn from 2,000 acres of protected land in Perthshire, Scotland, which has been kept free from farming, agricultural spraying, pesticides and habitation for 20+ years.ref The Soil Association accordingly certified the land as organic.
Aug.2000
Flag-Tax-Haven-v2.svg
Ochil Holdings Ltd, registered in Gibraltar, became the company's parent. Tay Consult Establishment handed over all its shares to Ochil Holdings Ltd.
Oct.1995A 2nd new office was opened in Pittsburgh, USA.
May.1995A new office was opened in Jersey.
Oct.1988Highland Spring Inc was incorporated in Delaware, USA, to distribute the company's products.
Mar.1986Management Changes: Stirling Mineral Water Ansalt was sacked, as was the MD and Brandane Overseas Consultants Ltd. New management was brought in, and retrieved the company from falling over a financial cliff.
Apr.2981Highland Spring Ltd: the company renamed itself.
Mar.1979
Flag-Tax-Haven-v2.svg
Stirling Mineral Water Company Ltd was incorporated as a subsidiary of Liechtenstein-registered Tay Consult Establishment. Liechtenstein is a well-known tax haven.ref
Sources: Highland Spring Ltd Companies House. Accessed Feb.10.2018.

Articles

References

  1. ^ Group information. Now bottling over 600 million litres of water a year... Highland Spring Group. Accessed Mar.21.2019.
  2. ^ Highland Spring to roll out 100% recycled plastic eco bottle. Following a successful 2018 trial, the Highland Spring eco bottle will join the existing Highland Spring natural source water range, where all bottles are 100% recyclable. The cap and label are not, however made from recycled plastic. Waqas Qureshi, Packaging News, Jan.21.2019.