TWO of Scotland’s most famous confectionery firms — saved from extinction earlier this year — have been merged under a new banner with its sights set on the ex-patriot Scots market.

Millar McCowan, maker of Pan Drops, the McCowan’s Highland toffee bars and the Wham bar, has risen from the ashes of two businesses, one based in Broxburn and the other in Stenhousemuir. Now the sweets, scoffed by generations and feared by dental hygienists, are being given a new lease of life, safeguarding 150 jobs.

Graham Wallace, chief executive, and Andy Allan, the finance director, stepped in to take over the businesses, which have a combined turnover of £10m. “The products are popular in the UK but we do very little abroad,” said Wallace. “We think they will sell well abroad, where people have a connection with these Scottish icons.”

Wallace and Allan had already rescued toffee company McCowan’s in April, and when Pan Drops’ maker Millar went into receivership in June they decided to take another bite.