The new chief executive of the Scottish Grocers' Federation has pledged that he will continue to build the organisation's national profile. And Scott Landsburgh said increasing the federation's membership base would be critical to achieving that goal. It already represents 800 shop units and branches, and has more than 50 corporate members ­ with another half a dozen in the pipeline. But Landsburgh ­ who takes over from Lawrie Dewar when he retires in the middle of December ­ said: "We will continue to develop retail membership schemes [like the one we have with Aberness] with more of the symbol groups. It's important that we are seen to represent the whole trade. "And we will continue direct recruitment of independent retailers using our own personnel ­ including our Support Training contacts." Landsburgh made it clear that an important aspect of that programme would be encouraging more Asian retailers to sign up as members. Another priority is raising the amount of income generated by the federation's support training arm and its PGMA wholesale grocery company. "A healthy financial position for the SGF will provide us with the platform to continue to work for independent retailers in Scotland," he said. {{NEWS }}