News

There’s nothing like owning shares in the company that you work for to keep staff focused on the firm’s profitability. For the 500 staff at Tullis Russell Papermakers, that keenness must now be second nature, following the employee buyout of the company in 1994, the largest buyout of its kind in the UK.

Based in Markinch, just outside of Glenrothes, Fife, R Tullis & Co was founded in 1809. In 1924, the Russell’s bought the shares of the firm that were held by the Tullis family, and in the early 1990s, orchestrated the employee buyout.

At the time, the Tullis family agreed an amount that it felt reflected the value of the company. This money was paid over a number of years, from profit that the company made. The employee-owned firm that now exists operates in a similar way to John Lewis, another employee-owned company.

Export operations
The company’s output is now in excess of 150,000 tonnes annually, with over 50% destined for the export market. According to marketing director Malcolm Sinclair, the majority of the warehousing of stock is done in Fife, although the firm also keeps supplies in Europe and the US and has sales offices in the US, France, Germany and Belgium
From the mill in Markinch, the company produces both coated and uncoated papers. Tullis Russell manufactures its own brands of paper as well as paper under the brand names of some key distributors.

“In-house brands such as Mellotex, which is the most popular uncoated paper among Tullis Russell customers, and Trucard, the most popular coated brand among our customers, are both manufactured at our site in Fife,” says Sinclair.

Trucard is one of Tullis Russell’s flagship brands, due to its reputation as a good quality stock for printing anything from Christmas cards and book covers, to premium packaging.  According to Sinclair, it is also the company’s most internationally successful brand.

Another popular brand for the company is Advocate, a stock that has undergone a marketing push over the past few months in order to remind potential users, particularly in the creative community, of its versatility and consistency.

Like anyone involved in the print industry, Tullis Russell has faced rising energy costs that it has been unable to pass on to the market. “We are a non-integrated supplier,” says Sinclair. “This means we have to buy in all of the pulp we require for production, and the rising cost of that pulp has been a concern for the firm. In the coming months, we will be looking to work with the market, in order to see what kind of price increases would be tolerated, should that be necessary.”

Environmental integrity
Tullis Russell has taken appropriate steps to support the environment over the past few years. It holds ISO 14001 and its Trucard brand is Fores-try Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, ensuring the integrity of the pulp used in its manufacture.

The award led to a rebranding of Trucard, to feature more information about the environmental credentials of the paper and make them more prominent, as the firm felt this was more in line with customers’ changing needs and priorities. Today, Trucard comes with FSC certification as standard, and with an additional variety made from recycled stock. More recently, its Gemini brand of coated papers has been awarded FSC accreditation.

“The future of Tullis Russell lies in the production of boards,” states Sinclair. “That area of the business has been a strength of the company for many years. We’ve worked hard to develop uncoated and cast-coated variants of Trucard for the first time, and these are set to be introduced during 2007.”

Several factors will ensure Tullis Russell’s longevity. Its response to market needs, its innovation and the extension of brand lines such as Trucard has helped it keep up with the competition. The company has also managed to maintain demand for traditional brands such as Advocate. Marketing campaigns ensure that customers do not forget about established brands as new ones are introduced.