An energy company which supplies gas and electricity to the residential letting sector, has secured a significant investment from the Scottish Investment Bank, it has been revealed.

Spark Energy, which is based in Selkirk, has been awarded £200,000 in funding to help strengthen its position as a leading supplier in the UK.

In the last 12 months, the firm has doubled its turnover to £80m. It also aims to employ an additional 50 staff to its 200-strong workforce as it plans to expand its operations.

Welcoming the investment, First Minister Alex Salmond said: "The success of Spark Energy is excellent news for the Borders, I am delighted that through the Scottish Investment Bank, we have been able to provide £200,000 to support the continued growth of the company.

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"Small suppliers have a critical role to play in improving the choice, service and transparency which has been lacking in the past.

"With the right support, there are tremendous opportunities for smaller suppliers to make real changes to the energy market, which is why to date the Scottish Investment Bank has invested £855,000 in Spark Energy."

The Scottish Investment Bank is the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise and Adrian Gillespie, MD at Scottish Enterprise commented: "We've been working closely with Spark Energy in recent years to help the company drive forward its growth ambitions.

"We're pleased to be able to further support with this new injection of funding from the Scottish Investment Bank and extremely encouraged by the company's recent strong turnover performance which underlines the importance of investing in continued business growth and ambition."

(JP)