Earlier this year Scotland on Sunday interviewed Lees of Scotland chief executive Clive Miquel.

In a market where provenance, heritage and a sprinkling of nostalgia are proving as addictive to consumers as a sugar rush, Coatbridge-based confectioner Lees of Scotland has revived its “Lees, Lees, more if you please” slogan in TV advertising highlighting the appeal of its distinctive snowballs.

The treats – mallow with a chocolate coating topped with coconut flakes – sit alongside other products for which the brand is famous, such as macaroons, teacakes and tablet.

And eyeing more for the firm itself is chief executive Clive Miquel. He joined the company in 2004 as commercial director. Miquel was later appointed managing director of Lees of Scotland, and in 2009 following a boardroom restructure was appointed chief executive at holding company Lees Foods.

The business was founded in Coatbridge in 1931 by grocer’s son John J Lees, who created its macaroon bar when trying to produce a smooth chocolate fondant version. The product has become a “Scottish icon”, according to the firm, which bills itself as one of the UK’s top independent manufacturers of branded confectionery and meringues.

It has changed hands on several occasions through the decades, acquired by Northumbrian Fine Foods in 1991, with Miquel’s father Raymond and business partner Klaus Perch-Nielsen taking it back into independent Scottish ownership two years later. It floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005.

The firm delisted with a £5.6m management buyout in 2012, and Miquel welcomes the move putting an end to dealing with shareholders who were sometimes “a bit disruptive” and not shy in expressing their opinions.

Coming off the stock market was “quite a big moment”, enabling far more leeway in decision-making, he says. “You don’t have to concern yourself with how that’ll impact on market expectations of the business and you’re obviously in total control. Certainly, the market wasn’t for us, and as private owners it’s a far better environment to be working in.”

Support for the buyout came from parties including Alasdair Locke, the Aberdeenshire-based oil tycoon who made £120m when he sold his London-listed energy services firm Abbot Group, while Miquel notes that about 6.5 per cent of shareholders were opposed. “It was quite a stressful time, if I’m honest, coming off the market. There was a lot of work involved in doing that, but we’re all delighted that we got there.”

Miquel had been determined from early on to pursue a career in the corporate world and after dropping out of his business management degree, he moved to France and spent two years travelling around the country with the Camus Cognac Company sales team.

It marked a return of sorts to his family roots – with the Miquel name coming from his French grandfather and apparently originating in the Basque Country.

He then returned to Scotland and worked in the advertising industry for ten years. In 1991 he joined Whyte & Mackay Distillers as export marketing manager and in his 12 years with the group made the move into the sales side, with his final role in 2003 European sales director. “I was very fortunate in the roles there,” he says. “I got to travel the world and get a lot of other experiences as well, so internationally it was very good, and it certainly provided a good grounding in both sales and marketing for coming to Lees.”