Two long-serving employees at a Grangemouth firm in Powdrake Road are celebrating becoming the bosses!

Along with David Marshall, the son of the previous owner, Moira Ashby and Mark Everingham have bought Recognition Express South East Scotland, following the retirement of Graham Marshall. Mr Marshall has owned the company for the past 10 years.

Moira joined Recognition Express eleven years ago and looks after administration and accounts. Mark – who is also Moira’s son-in-law – started at the firm a few months later. He manages the design and production side of the business, which makes and sources products including name badges, personalised clothing and branded items for local companies.

Moira said: “We have been working here for 11 years and have enjoyed every minute of it. We know what a good business this is because we have seen the success for ourselves, so when Graham told us he was retiring and putting the company up for sale it was too good an opportunity to miss.”

Before taking over the family business, David worked for an energy company managing its call centres. Like his new business partners, he could see that Recognition Express was doing really well. After a discussion with his other brothers the path was clear for him to lead the buy-out.

“Recognition Express is very different to the energy business and that’s why I love it,” said David. “No two days are different and we get to work with some lovely people. I have always wanted to be my own boss and it’s not every day you get the chance to buy a ready-made business with a proven pedigree. We wanted to keep the business in the family and I was the keenest one out of my brothers on the idea. Dad has built up a really good customer base and we’re looking forward to taking it to the next stage.”

Graham Marshall retired at the beginning of September, and is looking forward to spending more time improving his golf and travelling. He said: “I am very pleased that the business is staying in the family and that Moira and Mark have gone into partnership with David. They know everything there is to know about Recognition Express. Their knowledge combined with David’s sales and management expertise make it a winning combination – I know my company will be in safe hands.”