Shildon Thermoplastics has already won a £50,000 order from Romania, has exhibited at a trade fair in the Netherlands and has received positive inquiries from Albania, Poland, Slovenia and Spain.
The family run business group, owned by Jack Coupe, employs over 60 people throughout out the North East. The road marking divisions of the Coupe Group consists of three sister companies - Coupe Line, one of the premier road marking contractors in the North, H2-GO, a specialist in environmentally friendly marking removal using high pressured waterblasting, which are both managed by Jacks' son Martin, and Shildon Thermoplastics, the materials manufacturing division run by his other son Mark, who said:
"The UK market for our road marking materials has been declining and there has been more competition from abroad, so we realised we needed to expand into new markets overseas.
"We had virtually no experience, but with the help of Geoff Young, an International Trade Adviser with UK Trade & Investment, we were able to use its Market Selection Service Research scheme to look for promising markets. We started by looking at the countries that have recently joined in the European Union (EU) on the basis that they would have EU funding to improve infrastructure and roads. Based on feedback, we eventually settled on Romania as a target."
The company joined UK Trade & Investment's Passport to Export programme, which offers a unique, tailor-made package of support for the costs of items like travel, exhibitions, market research and legal advice to meet each company's individual needs, and made use of the Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS), which offers market research through British Embassies and can supply the names of suitable business contacts.
Mark added:
"With support from UK Trade & Investment and the Embassy we visited Romania twice and on the second occasion took an order for the supply of £50,000 worth of materials. We have since exhibited at a major trade show in the Netherlands and have received positive inquiries from other countries in Europe.
"In the meantime we have commissioned in-house training to bring ourselves up to speed with documentation, distribution and payment methods".
International Trade Adviser Geoff Young said:
"Shildon Thermoplastics has progressed in almost text book fashion, calling UK Trade & Investment in at every stage of the way, using our services and then visiting and re-visiting the market. They now find themselves rewarded with an order and have greater exposure in other markets".
For more information about the range of support services available through UK Trade & Investment to help your company succeed overseas call the North East International Trade Hotline on 0845 05 05 054 or email: enquiries@ukti.rito.co.uk.
