Scottish wholesaler JW Fishill has posted “robust” annual results in the face of rising staff costs.
In its results for the year ending January 31, 2026, JW Filshill reported a turnover of £213m, slightly down on the previous year’s figure of £214m. Operating profit for the wholesaler was slightly down at £4.1m against £5.0m the previous year, with the drop of £0.9m attributed to increases in employers’ national insurance contributions and the minimum wage. The company said it also invested heavily in product development relating to its growing Eldorado Tonic Wine brand.
Its profit before tax increased 72% from £4.9m to £8.4m, primarily due to the revaluation of its investment properties, in particular its former headquarters at Ainslie Avenue, Hillington, from where the business relocated in 2023.
Keith Geddes, chief financial and operating officer, said: “We have continued to deliver against our clearly defined corporate strategy and ambitions and drive efficiency throughout our operation. This improved efficiency is more essential than ever given the increase in costs driven mainly by changes to fuel, living wage and employers’ national insurance costs.
“The directors are pleased with the company performance and are confident that profits will continue at a satisfactory level going forward.”
Geddes added that the business is focused on long-term growth. “The long-term success of the company is central to everything we do. We invest heavily in long-term return projects to protect future revenue streams. This includes constantly updating our technology, equipment, and vehicle fleet on an ongoing basis – an approach that has resulted in greater efficiencies and customer satisfaction.”
Recent inflation and increases in the cost of living, in particular increases in the cost of fuel and food and drink, continue to cause uncertainty for the company, staff, customers and suppliers, Geddes pointed out, adding that legislation in the sector is also an “increasing risk but mitigated by close engagement with industry bodies”.
Sustainability focus
He highlighted sustainability as a focus for JW Filshill.
“We also continue to push forward with investment in other areas of technology such as the innovative use of data, Scope 3 emissions tracking software and industry-specific opportunities for our KeyStore customers in relation to, for example, electronic shelf-edge labels.
“During the year, our environmental team has continued working to reduce our carbon footprint and identify areas where we can positively influence a reduction in our carbon impact and work towards a net-zero emissions position. We have continued to incur additional operating cost to use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in place of diesel for most of our transport fleet and we have pushed to maximise the use of our electric fleet, and to learn and understand how best to use these vehicles, to further reduce our carbon footprint. We continue to engage and collaborate with a number of external bodies (both in the public and private sector) to share ideas and best practice.”
He added: “Our project to benchmark our Scope 3 emissions is ongoing and, while this has been difficult, we have continued to invest much time, effort, and money to do this. We have engaged with trade organisations the Scottish Wholesale Association and Food & Drink Wholesale UK and software suppliers to start to measure the carbon footprint of the thousands of products we buy and sell as well as the impact of packaging and staff travel.
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