Gleaner Ltd, an independent, family-owned company providing services to the domestic heating oil and commercial fuel industries, is celebrating 65 years in business. Since it was founded on 24 April 1954 in Elgin, by Robin Young, it has grown into a national company with more than 200 employees.
The company is now owned by his granddaughter, Jane Scott, and her husband Stephen, following the death of her father Evan Young in 2010 and a buy out of the remaining 50% ownership from her Uncle in July 2014.
The Gleaner family has amassed a further five businesses into its stable since the buyout, stretching from Thurso in the north of Scotland to Purfleet in Essex, giving the Group a truly UK – wide capability.
At the time of the Scotts’ buyout the company embarked upon a major investment programme, and has since spent a significant seven figure sum on upgrades to the tanker fleet and supporting vehicles, forecourt and depot improvements, new IT systems, staff training and development, and has increased its headcount from 180 to 215. As a result of this considerable investment, Gleaner provides a complete offering across all aspects of the bulk fuel, filling station and lubricant sectors, as a key player in the oil industry.
The company now owns 13 service stations and 11 depots, as well as supplying numerous filling stations under contract.
It now comprises, through its acquisition of Silgo Lubricants in 2017, two of only four authorised business to business Shell Lubricants distributors in the UK and boasts a large modern warehousing facility in Essex which, together with Gleaner’s existing infrastructure, provides customers with a national lubricant offering and expert technical support.
Gleaner supplies a wide range of bulk fuel products, including: agricultural, domestic, industrial, and marine oil; road fuels including petrol and diesel; and LPG. Also providing AdBlue and boiler maintenance services, it caters for the oil needs of upwards of ten thousand regular business customers.
The on-going development and diversification of Gleaner prompted a new name for the company in April 2019, to reflect the varied range of services incorporated by the company, no longer known as Gleaner Oils Ltd but simply known as Gleaner Ltd.
To mark the prestigious 65th anniversary, the Scotts personally organised the celebrations of the company being “65 Years Young”. Speaking at the party hosted at the Elgin Head Office, Chair Mrs Scott commented:
“What really drove Stephen and I, when buying out control of the business, was safeguarding the jobs of our fantastic staff, many of whom have known us since I was a girl growing up in Lossiemouth and Stephen was a boy growing up in Elgin, and also the monthly incomes of the 162 pensioners who depend upon the Gleaner Pension Scheme, as well as honouring the considerable legacy from which we benefitted due to my father’s kindness and thoughtfulness.
We assumed sole responsibility for the pension scheme, many of whose beneficiaries were not Gleaner employees, but came from other businesses which historically the family owned, as we felt it only right to honour undertakings given by the family. By working hard, being guided by trusted advisers and depending heavily on, in particular, our Managing Director David Todd, we are extremely proud to have more than honoured the agreement which was reached with the Pensions Regulator, which gave us until 2032 to reduce the deficit to nil, paying monthly, to the extent that it is on course to be cleared - ten years ahead of schedule - in only three years from now. We know that we have done the right thing by and for the beneficiaries of the Gleaner Pension Scheme.
Clearing that will immediately drop a not insignificant sum into the company’s bottom line, but we shall not be looking to extract one penny of that and will instead re - invest it in the business, paying as we always do particular heed to Health and Safety matters.
We also have aspirations for our son Evan ultimately to become the fourth generation of my family to have owned Gleaner. However Evan knows that this is not an obligation, if like Stephen before him he decides to make his own way in business.
I like to think that my grandfather would be very proud of what Dad and my Uncle achieved, and of what we have been doing since – the company now turns over more in a day than it did in the whole of its first year in business, but as a family we remain very humble about the fantastic platform from which we have benefitted”.
With that, Mrs Scott was off to enjoy the celebrations, and is pictured with Stephen and Evan, cutting a special commemorative cake for the staff in Elgin to enjoy.
