New order from Singapore is icing on the cake of best half year ever

Fast growing electrical engineers Houghton International are proving that developing international trade will be a huge boost to the UK manufacturing sector by winning their first order from Singapore.

The company exhibited their high voltage coil products at a trade show in Florida in June, generating half a million dollars worth of enquiries which they hope to land over the next 6 months. This was financed by winning a £30,000 Horizons grant from UKTI. This year the company has won new business out of Canada, Kuwait, Ireland and now Singapore with enquiries active across the Middle East, Asia and North America.

This success comes on the back of half year results that are the best the company has ever achieved and they are optimistic the 2^nd half of 2010 looks even stronger.

High Voltage Coils manufactured by Houghton International

Houghton's general manager, Craig Hutton, said the Singapore order was a welcome surprise: "Singapore is not a market we have strategically targeted as our focus in the past 12 months has been on developing the Middle East and Canada, where we have agents on the ground, and the USA, the biggest market in the world for our high voltage products. So when this enquiry came in on the back of a referral from a supplier, we were over the moon."

The Walker based firm expanded into a new 10,000sqft manufacturing facility in November and has gone from strength to strength in the first half of 2010 with sales increasing 20% on the same period last year. Houghton's rail services business has taken new contracts from across the UK and expects its unique offering to life extend existing rolling stock will help them to accelerate growth over the next 5 years.

The company are looking to recruit skilled operatives across its three business divisions and has vacancies in electrical fitting, winding, finance, general administration and stock control.