Scottish group plans to buy outlets in England

The new owners of Black and Lizars have signalled their intention to acquire outlets south of the border through acquisition of existing businesses.

As reported in Optician (News, April 11), the group was acquired by a European investment consortium for a sum believed to be around £20m. Its new chief executive, Majid Sadjadi, told Optician this week, that, 'In parallel to our activity in Scotland we are looking to acquire existing businesses in England.

'In the next two years we see a strong presence in England and in total we aim to have 70 outlets throughout the UK by the end of this period.'