£300,000 investment drive marks 160 year milestone for galvanizing specialist
One of the UK’s oldest hot dip galvanizing specialists is celebrating 160 years in business by pressing the button on a £300,000 investment drive.
Corbetts the Galvanizers, which employs 105 people at its Telford facility, has a range of events scheduled to help it mark the major anniversary, including the installation of new flux and acid tanks that will free up capacity and speed up the galvanizing process.
The management team are now setting their sights on a 7% increase in volumes, which, if achieved, will generate an additional £1m of revenue for the firm.
“It has certainly been a roller coaster 12 months,” said Sophie Williams, who was appointed as finance director at 28 years-old, making her one of the youngest female directors in the sector.
“We have spent a lot of the last 12 months building a platform that would allow us to work through the economic issues we faced, whilst also pressing on with our desire to reinforce our position as one of the UK’s leading hot dip galvanizers.”
She added: “In fact, when we actually look at the figures, we can see that we achieved our best ever year for new sales and a lot of this was down to our repositioning, a new brand and successfully passing our ISO 9001 quality accreditation.
“When products roll out of our facility in the heart of Shropshire, the stunning finish we create is something that usually tells us that the processes, the staff and the investment we have signed off on is working.”
Corbetts the Galvanizers was originally founded by Samuel Corbett and opened its Wellington factory in 1860 and Shropshire has remained its home ever since.
Its site on Halesfield has been its base since 1999.
The business was bought by Canadian investment house Ardenton Capital in 2017 and, under its renewed backing, it has enjoyed an upward growth curve, putting on over £1.2m in sales and enjoying new successes in construction and the automotive sector.
