BSW Group invests millions in forestry operations last year

Investments from the firm - owned by Binderholz - included £4 million on a new miniplug production facility at Maelor Forest Nurseries, in Wrexham, and the £1.4 m purchase of a VK Debarker at its Fort William sawmill.

Elsewhere, BSW spent £5 m on several new machines to strengthen its fleet of harvesters and forwarders. This was to support group member Dick Brothers after it won several high-value contracts with Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). 

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However, the firm was forced to close its Boat of Garten sawmill last year and drew criticism when member Tilhill opted to change its payment terms for contractors. 

Tony Hackney, CEO at BSW Group, said: “The forestry and timber industries faced many challenges in 2022, and further challenges will no doubt present themselves as we move into 2023.

“These challenges came in the form of the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, increasing energy costs and a 40-year high in cost-of-living expenses. The result of this was a global downturn across the timber industry, which unfortunately led to the closure of our Boat of Garten sawmill.

“However, the BSW Group and Binderholz board’s strategic review of the business has presented opportunities where investment would strengthen our offering.

BSW was forced to close its Boat of Garten sawmill last year (Image: Stock image)

“The decision to make these investments in 2022, with more planned throughout 2023, will allow us to drive efficiencies across all sites and place us in a great position to serve customers with an even stronger offering going forward.”

Other investments from BSW included: 

• Bayram Timber acquiring a £300,000 Hundegger machine
• BSW Timber Solutions in Melton, Hull, had a new £400,000 H23 Planer installed
• BSW Timber Solutions had a state-of-the-art showroom built in Stoke
• BSW Group also acquired Scott Group in December 2022