In Brief: 121Workware; Harvard Engineering; Durham-Duplex; Henderson Insurance Brokers
A YOUNG Yorkshire entrepreneur, who specialises in workwear, uniforms and promotional clothing, is hiring new staff and expanding his business premises after a record-breaking year.
Aj Swinbank, aged 24, founded 121workwear18 months ago to provide bespoke workwear and protective clothing for companies across the UK. It produces all types of clothing, from T-shirts to fleeces, from footwear to hoodies and blazers, for permanent use or one-off promotions.
He now has more than 500 clients including York Racecourse, Wensleydale Creamery and Goal Soccer Centres.
121Workware employs six people and is about to invest £100,000 to treble the size of its Leyburn production unit and quadruple its production facility. The investment, which includes state-of-the-art screen printing facilities and a brand-new sales offices, should lead to the employment of 10 extra staff during the next 12 months.
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HARVARD Engineering, based in West Yorkshire, has secured a contract with Transport for London (TfL) to install LeafNut – the company’s wireless monitoring and control system for street lighting.
The system will initially be deployed across 35,000 of TfL’s 52,000 street lights as part of a new energy efficient lighting programme.
The programme, which also includes the installation of a new LED lighting system, aims to reduce carbon emissions in the future by approximately 9,700 tonnes a year and contribute to energy cost savings of £1.85m a year by the time the system is implemented in 2016. Energy consumption is also expected to be reduced by 40%, compared to current levels.
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A SHEFFIELD-based manufacturer of machine knives and industrial blades has increased its international trade by 15% and saved thousands of pounds in the process.
Durham-Duplex on Petre Street, exports approximately 50m components a year to more than 40 countries worldwide. It employs more than 100 people around the world, with two factories in Sheffield and has more than 14,000 products.
To deliver the products it has joined forces with freight management company 512 (Sheffield), based at the Sheffield International Freight Terminal (SH-I-F-T), to handle all its importing and exporting needs.
Carl Foster, international sales director at Durham-Duplex, said: “Through the bonded warehouse, we are able to bring in components such as plastic mouldings from South East Asia facility before adding Sheffield blades and sending them out around the world. This has significantly aided our business and provided cash flow savings.”
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THE Hessle branch of Henderson Insurance Brokers has secured £10m worth of business.
The independent broker said this figure is a first for the office and was achieved during the current financial year, which ends this April. The announcement follows news of strong performance across the group as a whole, with group turnover rising five% to £22.55m for the year ended 30 April 2013.
Director of the Hessle office Andrew Wakefield said that the business had seen steady growth over the last few years despite the economic downturn.
“When the current management team took control of the Hessle office seven years ago, we were placing around £2.2m in premiums. Since then our staff numbers have increased from six to 16, leading to a recent expansion which doubled the size of our office space.”
