Member Article

Investment breathes life into expansion plans

A Barnard Castle firm that works with some of the UK’s leading healthcare institutions to allow state-of-the-art, life-saving portable respiratory technologies to be available to British patients, is aiming to more than double its turnover in the next two years.

Carina VT imports specialised equipment from Europe and the US for use in treating lung conditions.

Set up in 2003, the company currently employs seven people, and has already achieved an annual turnover of £850,000. The firm is now aiming at a target of £1.8m by summer 2010 with the help of a £150,000 investment from NEL Fund Managers.

To help achieve this goal, company founder Kath Johnson is recruiting a new sales force to support her in initiating and developing relationships in the healthcare sector.

The company will also make further investments in introducing the latest respiratory technologies into the UK from Italy and Germany.

New respiratory therapy equipment that Carina VT will be introducing to the UK early in 2009, includes a SmartVest, which administers chest physiotherapy, and an innovative device called Uniko to treat the lung disease COPD, which can also “exercise” a patient’s airways and lungs whilst being used.

Kath Johnson says: “Manufacturers in continental Europe are often at the leading edge in the respiratory field, and we consult with leading health care institutions to introduce the very best equipment into the UK.

“Ventilation support has made incredible progress in recent years, with machines now able to provide far greater mobility and a hugely improved quality of life for patients who previously would have been unable to survive without large, mains powered ventilation equipment.

“With new systems of this type, we need to be able to demonstrate them in clinical situations to our customers, and importing the equipment to the UK obviously requires significant investment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .