Refusal of dragon’s cash fails to knock shine off Halo
A SKELMERSDALE-based company which developed a non-biological detergent designed to kill superbugs which turned down an offer of £100,000 of investment from Dragon’s Den’s James Caan has continued to thrive.
Halo, which is run by Paul Ward, is set to appear on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den Revisited show which goes back to firms which pitched product ideas on the show to see how they have fared.
Ward went onto the show looking for £100,000 in return for a 5% stake in the business and was offered the money by Caan, but he wanted 30% of the equity.
Ward turned down the offer, but has since successfully launched two new detergent ranges – Halo and Halo Proactive Sports Wash – within retail stores.
The products are designed to was clothes at low temperatures but still destroy hospital superbugs including MRSA and C.Difficile and are being stocked in discount chain Wilkinsons from this month. It is also effective against Listeria, Salmonella, E.Coli, H1N1, Norovirus and fungus.
Ward, 42 and married with a one-year-old child, has remortgaged his home twice and together with his business partner Kath Brownless has spent more than £250,000 bringing the products to market.
However, since then the firm’s turnover has grown from £449,000 in 2008 to £1.4m last year. Sales are expected to exceed £2m this year, he said.
“It will be fantastic to finally see our products on shelves and people buying them after so much hard work and sacrifice during the past six years,” said Ward.
“It was a terrific experience to appear on Dragons Den and now Dragons Den Revisited and even more satisfying to discover that we are the only company to turn down a Dragon and go on to exceed our financial targets.”
