THE EU helped him build his world-leading winter sports business. Now Jamie Smith, the Scottish founder of the Ice Factor Group, says Brexit has frozen his firm’s expansion plans.
“I find myself literally banging my face off the table some mornings,” he says, “because I see the latest iteration of Brexit and think ‘how have we reached this stage?’”
Smith, from Lochcarron, grew up on the hills of his grandfather’s Kyle of Lochalsh farm and has turned his passion for the outdoors into a business which boasts the world’s largest indoor ice climbing wall, the UK’s biggest real snow facility and more than 200 staff.
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Housed in a Victorian ex-aluminium smelter, Ice Factor in Kinlochleven came first and welcomes more than 100,000 climbers a year.
Ski and snowboard site Snow Factor Braehead, which incorporates the country’s only permanent ice bar, was acquired in 2011 and now accounts for 50% of the country’s “mountain” skier days.
When construction is complete, the group will also operate the £30 million Subzero centre in Middlesbrough, which is set to open in winter 2020.
Smith, who travelled the world as a consultant to the snowsports industry after leaving the RAF, has long held plans to expand overseas.
However, he says Brexit has thrown a big-money deal in Spain off-track.
A contract to run SnowZone in Madrid – Spain’s only indoor ski centre – has been put on pause after the owners of the Xanadu complex, which houses the facility, expressed concerns about the impact of the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.
They are now awaiting clarity about the terms of the withdrawal deal before next steps can be taken.
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“They don’t know if they can have a UK business financed by a French bank running a Spanish ski centre,” Smith said. “We were the preferred operator for Xanadu in Madrid. That whole deal has stopped because of Brexit.
“There’s no doubt it’s had an impact on us. When there’s a fundamental shift in the financial markets, everybody becomes nervous.”
Smith’s frustration follows a clutch of missed opportunities for the group before he bought out investors Highland Venture Capital and the Scottish Investment Bank to regain control in 2017.
“We had the option of becoming one, if not the, leading operator in the world,” he states. “We were offered seven or eight different centres. It was a real no-brainer, but I couldn’t get anything done. It came down to ‘you go or I go.’”
However, Smith sees no positives from the UK leaving the EU. “I’m an internationalist,” he says. “I was and remain appalled that we are pulling out.”
The support for EU membership is both personal and political – not only does Smith see it as offering the best future for an independent Scotland, he also feels close ties to the institution he credits with sparking his success.
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That dates back to a late 90s visit by 38 EU commissioners to the former Alcan site at Kinlochleven, an enormous premises polluted by the aluminium smelting that had taken place there. Smith “shanghaied them, grabbed the bus and got them to come to the building”.
“I showed them that this site that was listed by Friends of the Earth as one of the most polluted spots in the UK could be turned into a paragon of green tourism,” he says.
“I couldn’t raise the capital to clear somebody else’s mess. I had no support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), none from the council. It was the EU commissioners that gave the project their support. I have a direct interest in how the EU has played its role in Scotland.
“As a Highland boy, I see that blue flag with the yellow stars as a source of pride.”
Ice Factor Group has enjoyed growth of around 800% since 2003, with annual turnover hitting around £4 million.
However, this has not extended to the rest of the country’s snowsports industry. The number of skiers attending resorts has tumbled since the 1990s.
At troubled CairnGorm Mountain, the indefinite closure of the funicular railway saw operators placed into administration, with administrators declaring the site had become “unsustainably loss-making”.
Smith offered to help HIE, which is now running the facility through a subsidiary, lift it out of administration. However, he says this offer has not been taken up.
“If you have a leaking bucket, how do you keep pouring into the top? You need the customers. That’s the role I see Snow Factor fulfilling strategically for the industry.
“We’ll never be competition for blue skies and powder snow, but they can come here, learn, improve and go out to the resorts, then come back and learn some more with us. It’s a virtuous loop.”
HIE said it did support Smith's venture through Lochaber Enterprise, with some funds also allocated by Highland Council.
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