A FAMILY firm in Port Glasgow has invested £1.5 million in the business as it targets £20m worth of sales in the next few years.

McLaren Packaging, which produces specialises in high-quality products for the whisky industry, has spent huge sums at its Gareloch Road facility in Devol Industrial Estate and its other base in Stirling over the last two years.

The firm was established in 1979 by James John McLaren, who is still involved with the organisation, and is run these days by his sons Michael, 32, and Donald, 37.

McLaren posted pre-tax profits of £1.56m in 2015 on turnover of £15m and the company is continuing to expand.

Michael, the firm’s sales and marketing director, said: “We’re one of a few independent Scottish companies supplying the UK drinks sector and we’re quite proud of that.

“We feel there’s a real opportunity to grow and our target is to reach £20m turnover in the next three years. Scottish produce has a great reputation globally and we want to try to support producers as they grow their business all over the world.”

James worked for two decades with the former Bowater paper and packing group and set up his own business supplying corrugated cases to the whisky industry.

McLaren has since grown from five to 140 staff across three sites.

At the Inverclyde HQ, £375,000 was spent last December installing 300 solar panels above its composite tubes factory, which makes metal and card tubes for individual whisky bottles.

This was on the back of an £800,000 investment in 2014 to extend the factory’s storage and loading capacity and a further £250,000 in equipment which makes the corrugated dividers that slot inside cases of 12 or 24 bottles.

Sales in the latest financial year are seven per cent ahead of where they were 12 months ago.

Michael said: “At a time when manufacturing figures in the UK show a month on month downturn, McLaren Packaging is bucking the trend by demonstrating continued growth and providing employment in manufacturing in both Port Glasgow and Stirling.”

McLaren Packaging, founded in 1979, first opened their factory in Port Glasgow in ‘86 and expanded the factory in 1999.

In 2007 they bought half of the industrial estate to allow for future growth and expansion and five years ago they built a state-of-the-art composite tube factory.