Growth fund backs Arran toiletries firm Arran Aromatics is the latest company to receive support from the Business Growth Fund (BGF), a £2.5bn fund chaired by Sir Nigel Rudd, which is aimed at helping small and medium-sized firms to expand. The £2.8m investment marks a significant turning point for Arran Aromatics, which came close to being wound up by HM Revenue & Customs four and a half years ago over £180,000 of unpaid payroll taxes. The family-owned group managed to stave off administration after Iain Pittman, a turnaround specialist, was parachuted in to rescue the company, which is the biggest private sector employer on the Isle of Arran off the West coast of Scotland. Arran Aromatics, which was founded by Janet and Iain Russell in 1988, in now back in profit at an operating level after Mr Pittman reduced its reliance on sales through gift shops and garden centres and opened more standalone stores. The brand, which is well known north of the Border, now has 10 stores and nine concessions in other shops and also has contracts with hoteliers such as De Vere Group, owner of the Cameron House hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland and The Grand hotel in Brighton. Arran Aromatics has also been expanding outside of the UK and is now one of Scotland's biggest exporters to Saudi Arabia, where it has a partnership with the owner of more than 300 retail outlets. BGF has taken a minority stake in the company in return for the £2.8m investment. Arran Aromatics has also taken on a new chairman, Alastair Kerr, the former head of Body Shop's European, Middle East and African operations. The investment will help the firm, which employs a total of 120 people, including 50 on the Isle of Arran, launch a new website and improve its online sales. It also has plans to open a further four shops over the next two years. The BGF, which is managed independently from the five high street banks, opened for business in April 2011. It invests money from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered in small and medium-sized companies which need capital to grow.