1 Nov 2006 - Press release - B & V expand into Ukraine

CHEMICAL FIRM’S EXPERIMENT PAYS OFF

A NORTHAMPTONSHIRE chemical and Legionella consultancy firm is celebrating the success of a new business experiment which will help create new jobs.

Bosses at B&V Water Treatment, in Daventry, this week signed a new trade agreement with owners of a water treatment company in the Ukraine, following a move to become more involved in the global market. They are now looking to recruit five extra employees to help cope with ambitious expansion plans.

Owners of the Ukrainian company Techenergochim visited B&V headquarters, on Heartlands Industrial Estate, Daventry, on Wednesday this week, to sign a contract agreeing to manufacture B&V chemicals under licence.

The initiative is part of the Daventry firm’s decision to move further into the export market. The company, a specialist in the prevention of Legionnaire’s Disease and the treatment of industrial boilers and cooling towers, already has business links with firms in the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Middle East, Portugal and Malta. It is now keen to expand its global business still further.

It is partly thanks to its recent success in this area that it is now looking to recruit a further five employees – two water treatment consultants, a technician, a chemical blender and a driver.

B&V Managing Director Simon Ward explained that the company had received invaluable help and support through the Chamber of Commerce and UK Trade and Investment, after recently taking part in their Passport to Export course.

“We are delighted at how this has helped us to expand our business and open up previously closed markets to us,” said Mr Ward.

“We received the original enquiry from the Ukraine through our website. Whereas, perhaps five years ago, we would have rejected the enquiry as being impossible as we were not then used to export markets, we now have the confidence, skills and knowledge necessary to expand into this area. “With the global economy becoming more and more important, and the migration of the manufacturing industry to Eastern Europe and China, we now have the expertise to form partnerships with companies in these regions,” he said.

Michael Hope, Regional International Trade Adviser for UK Trade and Investment, said: “The Passport to Export scheme enables companies to establish their international trade objectives and then provides the support needed to achieve them.

“Following their Passport course, B & V have identified new markets and, as a result, are now going from strength to strength.”

B&V’s Production Director Steve Bond and Technical Support Manager Jill Cooper visited their new partners in the Ukraine in February to assist with the setting up of a new manufacturing plant. Staff at B&V will continue to retain close ties with the company by visiting the Ukraine every few months.

Techenergochim General Director Igor Gospodinov said his company had decided to select B&V as its business partner because he had been very impressed with the Daventry firm’s quality products and systems.

“They are far better than anything we have seen anywhere else,” he said.

He added that B&V had been “very responsive and reactive” to his company’s needs and that he had been exceptionally impressed with the technical knowledge of staff.

He said the firm’s willingness to give technical help on site in the Ukraine had also been greatly appreciated.