Dunedin, the UK mid-market private equity firm, and EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, today announced the regional winners of the Outstanding Export Award, a major milestone on their nationwide search for UK manufacturers that have excelled in exporting. This award, which Dunedin has sponsored for the third time, is part of the annual EEF/Aldermore Future Manufacturing Awards and seeks to recognise the achievements of manufacturers that have developed their export strategy to both reach new markets and enhance their presence in existing markets.
This award follows a series of recent announcements from Dunedin that reinforces its commitment to helping businesses internationalise. In October, it announced that it had joined the Alliance for Global Growth, a network of ambitious lower mid-market private equity firms with the aim of providing the strongest possible international support to its portfolio companies. Dunedin also recently announced that it had made four senior appointments to its international advisory board.
Internationalisation is one of the primary growth strategies that Dunedin adopts in order to add value to the businesses that it backs. These include: Formaplex, a specialist manufacturer that works in advanced materials and now sells products throughout Europe; Premier Hytemp, a manufacturer of components for the oil and gas sector, which has developed a strong presence in Singapore; video camera specialist EV Offshore, which sells high-quality, robust products to the oil and gas industry in 26 countries; U-POL, a global leader in the automotive refinishing product market; BlackRock PM, which provides independent expert witness and consulting services to large international construction projects, and is in the process of evaluating new offices in Dubai, Singapore and other international arbitration centres; and Kee Safety, a global market leading provider of collective fall protection safety systems and solutions which has operations spread across the UK, USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Far East.
Nicol Fraser, partner at Dunedin, said:
“To develop and implement a successful international export strategy is a great achievement for any business. Building up a presence in overseas markets enhances long-term growth prospects as well as employment and career opportunities. It is encouraging to see how many manufacturers across the UK are attaining export growth.
“The Outstanding Export award celebrates this success and, as an active investor in the British Manufacturing sector, Dunedin is very pleased to be sponsoring it for the third year. The ability to internationalise and access overseas markets is not straightforward but is a strategy we work hard with our own investee companies to achieve.
“Many congratulations to all the regional finalists that are taking big steps to establish a position in global markets, some of whom will be the potential export stars of tomorrow. We look forward to the national awards in January to find out which business will be selected as the overall UK winner.”
The Future Manufacturing Awards offer manufacturers and apprentices from across the UK the opportunity to showcase their achievements across seven different award categories: business growth, people and skills, innovation, export, health and safety, environment and education. The national winners will be announced in January 2016.
Outstanding Export Award - winners by region
Midlands: Fracino
South East: MRT Castings Ltd
South West: Fraser Anti-Static Techniques Ltd
North West: JF Renshaw Ltd
Yorkshire/North East: Acorn Stairlifts