news opinion TRACKING THE EXPORTS Thames Valley
The Business Magazine is 25 years old this autumn – and our birthday gives us an opportunity to thank all our advertisers, sponsors and readers for their support over the past two and a half decades
When we first began, the business world was a lot different. Most communication was done by fax and post, and email and the web were very much the promised technology of the future.
In 1993, we were a publishing company producing the printed magazine and mailing it out to 25,000 readers each month.
Today, the business is one of the leading B2B events companies in the south. More than 70% of our sales relate to events, from awards ceremonies to seminars, and from roundtable debates to private dinners.
What this shows is that, despite (or because of) our clients’ reliance on digital means of communication, their appetite for face-to-face contact has grown significantly. We might email, text and tweet all the time, but we need to also shake hands, greet prospects, and see the whites of their eyes.
Every year, we launch new awards competitions and build our events portfolio while never forgetting that the magazine is still the heart of our operation. You only have to visit a newsagents today to see that magazine publishing is still very much alive and kicking.
What the next 25 years will bring is far from certain. One thing we do know is that we will endeavour to serve the south with quality events and publications for as long as we exist – and so provide the platforms on which the business community can interact and communicate.
A recruitment consultancy that began life in a garage in Reading 11 years ago has grown to become one of the top exporting groups in the United Kingdom.
Entrepreneurs Peter Hart and Derek Simpson now have five offices in Britain, Germany and America for their Austin Fraser group, having opened branches in Berlin and Denver in the past year.
The firm places staff in the technology, digital, life science, automation and aviation sectors. Now with a staff of some 120, international sales hit £10.9 million in 2017 giving a two-year growth of 115%.
It gave the company a top 20 placing in the latest Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 table, which ranks Britain’s mid- market private companies with the fastest- growing international sales measured over their latest two years of accounts.
Only one other firm from the Thames Valley region made the top 50, with Kerridge Commercial Systems at Hungerford placed 37th after international sales of £24m in 2017 gave growth of 86%.
The company supplies business management software to more than 14,900 customers. Chief executive Ian Bendelow led a management buyout from the US parent company in 2010, backed by a £9m investment from private equity firm NVM.
In 2015 he led a secondary buyout backed by tech investor Accel-KKR, which provided funding for six acquisitions in Europe, the US and South Africa. The staff now totals about 550.
Teneo, the Reading group that helps 1,500 companies – including Mott MacDonald and Schneider Electric – to optimise IT networks, was placed 53rd.
The firm was founded in 2000 by chief executive Piers Carey and opened a US operation in 2006, later setting up offices in France and Australia. Acquisitions in America lifted overseas sales to £33.4m giving a growth of 69%..
A family-owned bi-fold door manufacturer founded at High Wycombe in 2002 was 58th; Origin began when cousins Neil
Ginger and Victoria Brocklesby spotted a gap in the market for bespoke aluminium doors.
The business started selling its products internationally five years ago when it opened a showroom in Dubai, and now makes doors and windows in Britain and America. Now with a staff of nearly 300, its exports reached £2.2m last year giving growth of almost 68%.
The Reading technology distributor Westcoast, a regular in the top performance tables, was 63rd with international sales of £437m last year giving growth of 65%. Founded in 1984 by chairman Joe Hemani, it distributes IT products and services to more than 14,000 customers in the UK and Europe. In 2016 it bought a division of Adveo, which supplies ink and toners to businesses across France.
Optima Contracting (74th) in High Wycombe designs, makes and installs glazed partitioning systems for UK and international clients. It has manufacturing sites in Bath and Kuala Lumpur, and international operations in the Middle East, Asia and Australia. International sales totalled £12.6m in 2017 giving growth of 57%.
The Sunbury-on-Thames company AVMI (81st) supplied flipcharts and overhead projectors when it was founded in 1990. It now helps more than 800 businesses integrate hi-tech audiovisual and video collaboration systems used in meeting rooms and event spaces. Exports totalled £3.4m in 2017 giving growth of 55%.
Seven more Thames Valley companies made the lower reaches of the table. They were consumer electronics designer Bullitt Group (85th) at Reading with overseas sales of £148.8m, growth 54%; Mint Velvet (no. 100), the High Wycombe womenswear retailer with exports of £4.8m, growth 47%; MMR Research Worldwide (112th) at Wallingford with exports of £31m, growth 45%; Cennox (123rd) at Camberley with exports of £36m and growth 40% from banking automation services; Les Caves de Pyrene (126th) the Guildford wine merchant with exports £6.5m and growth 39%; Horizon International Cargo (165th) at Heathrow with exports £37.8m and growth 31%; and The Knowledge Academy (167th) the Bracknell training provider with exports of £8m and growth 31%.
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businessmag.co.uk THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
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