16 new deals announced during Export Week
Small and mid-sized firms around the UK have announced 16 new export deals to countries across the world.
3,000 companies have taken part in week to encourage exporting.
Small and mid-sized firms around the UK have announced 16 new export deals to countries across the world including Ghana, Colombia and Cambodia.
The announcements were made during UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) fifth Export Week which is designed to encourage businesses to start exporting or expand their export activity.
More than 70 events for small and mid-sized firms have taken place nationwide with companies attending workshops on trade, intellectual property and marketing across the country.
The new export deals include:
- Nottingham business, Mediboard, has secured its first ever export order, which will help treat cats and dogs with cancer in Colombia. The company’s translucent board helps position the animals on scanners, leading to better quality images of cancerous tumours
- Leicester business, Clifton Packaging Group Ltd, has secured a deal in excess of £1 million to supply packaging machinery to a soup and rice manufacturer in Ghana
- traditional British shoe-maker, Loake Shoes, from Northants, has won an order to supply its footwear to a top retail store in Vietnam following a UKTI trade mission
- Sussex marine business, PSM Instrumentation, has announced £200,000 of new orders for its marine tank gauging systems from Singapore, less than 6 months after returning from a UKTI market visit
UKTI Chief Executive Crispin Simon said:
These exciting new deals show the huge demand that exists for high quality British products and services around the world.
They are an inspiration to the thousands of firms that have attended Export Week with hopes of growing their business by expanding overseas.
Research shows that companies do better with UKTI’s help so my message to those thinking about taking the plunge is get in touch.
On Tuesday (8 April 2014), UK education providers announced that, with support from UKTI, they had won 4 new deals worth £850 million to establish 12 technical and vocational training colleges in Saudi Arabia.
Also during Export Week the Chancellor announced the roll out of a new scheme which will offer all UK mid-sized businesses a dedicated trade advisor and tailored trade support. The announcement included funding to triple the number of dedicated mid-sized trade advisors.
As part of the last Export Week in November 2013 UKTI launched its Exporting is GREAT campaign aimed at small businesses.
Notes to editors
1.Export Week enables businesses to access the knowledge and experience of experts from UKTI and its regional partners. Whether businesses are taking their first steps overseas, or are already established exporters, Export Week will equip them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in international markets.
2.UKTI Education brought together consortia to bid for the 4 high value education contracts and these new wins mean that UK education providers will operate 16 of the 37 colleges let to date, worth more than £1 billion to the UK economy. The winning consortia are:
- the Oxford Partnership, a consortium comprising Activate Learning, GEMS Education Solutions and Moulton College
- Lincoln College
- Hertvec, a consortium led by Hertford Regional College and also including North Hertfordshire College and the University of Hertfordshire
- FESA, a consortium of leading UK colleges and training providers
3.The full list of regional deals announced during Export Week is:
- Sussex marine business, PSM Instrumentation, has announced new orders for its marine tank gauging systems worth £200,000 from Singapore, less than 6 months after returning from a UKTI market visit
- digital company, Dotsquares, has secured orders to work within the Brazilian coffee industry, just 4 months after visiting the country with UKTI and London Chamber of Commerce. Dotsquares, which produces mobile apps and games, as well as websites and web based systems, now provides the client in the South American coffee industry with mobile apps to assist with tracking orders and deliveries
- self-adhesive specialists, Parafix, has purchased its first factory in Hungary after dedicated investment in the area. The company, which converts and distributes self-adhesive materials such as tapes, foams, films and foils, will officially open its 2,800 square metre Budapest facility on 15 April 2014, secured with help from UKTI
- life sciences company, Phynova, based in Long Hanborough has signed 2 trade agreements with partners in Hong Kong and Shanghai, after a UKTI mission to China. Phynova said the agreements will accelerate use of its health food ingredient in healthcare and food products across China. The ingredient can help maintain healthy blood sugar levels in people who are threatened by diabetes
- Nottinghamshire business, SigAssure UK Ltd, has secured new orders in both Cambodia and Vietnam during a UKTI market visit. Father and son rail business, SigAssure UK Ltd, clinched the deals for 10 of their innovative rail trolleys, during a meeting with the representatives for the national railway organisations in each country this February 2014
- Nottinghamshire business, Cargopak, has announced an order for 2,000 roll containers in Germany, with help from UKTI. Tuxford–based Cargopak, which makes 150,000 of the roll containers a year for transporting goods in and out of retail stores, has also clinched new orders for their tough, bespoke metal cages in Finland and Spain
- Nottingham business, Mediboard, has secured its first ever export order, which will help treat cats and dogs with cancer in Colombia. Their translucent board helps position the animals in place on scanners, leading to better quality images of cancerous tumours
- Northampton company, B & V Group, secured new business in the region of £250,000 in the Middle East, which is helping to treat water, provide disinfectants and heal patients’ wounds in UAE hospitals
- traditional British shoe-maker, Loake Shoes, has won an order to supply a top store in Vietnam, following a UKTI East Midlands visit to Vietnam and Cambodia
- Leicester business, Clifton Packaging Group Ltd, has secured a deal in excess of £1 million to supply packaging machinery to a soup and rice manufacturer in Ghana
- UK manufacturer of cutting edge equipment for hospital operating theatres, Starkstrom, has announced a new order to supply its products to Vietnam. The company, which employs 110 people to manufacture thousands of units a year, at their 4,000 square metre manufacturing base in Leicester, secured the order to supply equipment to 6 new operating theatres in a new Vietnamese hospital
- Tees Valley firm, WhiteWash Laboratories Ltd, of Middlesbrough, has secured a string of export successes with the help UKTI. WhiteWash Laboratories Ltd is a leading provider of teeth whitening and oral care products including teeth whitening strips and gels, sonic whitening electric toothbrushes, nano-silver toothbrushes and whitening toothpastes which have been developed and formulated by leading UK dentists. After using TAP to attend the International Dental Show in Cologne, Germany they were able to appoint new distributors in Sweden, The Baltics, Germany and Hungary
4.The government’s economic policy objective is to achieve ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries’. It set 4 ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’:
- to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
- to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
- to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
- to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe
Work is underway across government to achieve these ambitions, including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with more clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.
5.UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is the government department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment to the UK’s economy – acknowledged as Europe’s best place from which to succeed in global business. UKTI offers expertise and contacts through its extensive network of specialists in the UK, and in British embassies and other diplomatic offices around the world. We provide companies with the tools they require to be competitive on the world stage. For more information on UKTI, visit www.ukti.gov.uk or visit the online newsroom at www.ukti.gov.uk/media.