Partner Article

£3m contract for Wearside firm

A Wearside electronic firm has secured a £3m a year deal with a renowned hi-fi manufacturer.

Connor Solutions believed a focus on quality rather than quantity has helped it expand in a fiercely competitive market and attract customers of the calibre of Arcam.

The firm, based in Houghton-le-Spring, will provide electronics assembly services for Arcam, which designs and manufactures high-end hi-fi and home cinema equipment from its base just outside Cambridge.

Connor, which was set up ten years ago and employs about 160 people, specialises in providing low to medium volume electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to companies in the UK and Ireland.

Connor’s finance director Phil Hall said: “Our aim is not to be the biggest EMS operator in the market, but to be recognised as providing the best equipment and best customer service, characteristics which are key in boosting our profitability.

“With the recovery now on the way, we can see a number of opportunities opening up, such as the new Arcam contract, and we are in great shape to take advantage of them.”

In 2003, the company received investment capital from NEL Fund Managers, which provides private and public finance to small and medium North East businesses.

Further investments followed in 2004 and then in January this year, as a large part of a wider investment package, and it has maintained a presence on Connor’s board of non-executive directors.

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