Partner Article

JC Atkinson sets out growth plan

AFTER more than doubling its turnover in the last five years, one of the UK ’s largest coffin manufacturers is focussing on securing further organic growth through expanding both its customer base and product range.

Since moving into its Washington factory in 2005, JC Atkinson & Son has seen its annual turnover rise from £2.5m to £5.5m, and now supplies around ten per cent of the coffins used across the UK every year.

Despite the recession, the company has managed to add £1m to its turnover since the start of 2009, and has increased its workforce by almost a quarter to 95 people over the same period.

The formation of a wholesale business alongside its primary manufacturing activity has been partially responsible for the firm’s recent growth, along with an expansion of the company’s UK-wide customer base of independent funeral directors and specialist supplier contracts with larger, household name funeral businesses.

JC Atkinson & Son has had a decade-long relationship with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers Ltd, and is utilising a new £150,000 investment from the Growth Fund that is managed by NEL as part of the Finance for Business North East Fund initiative to help put its ongoing development plans into action.

Managing director Julian Atkinson said: “The relationship that we’ve had with NEL over the years has remained fruitful for all parties, and the type of investments we’ve secured have matched our funding requirements very well.

“These investments have always been attached to a specific business plan, and we know that our success depends on delivering that plan, which in turn helps to create a real energy within the business that is focussed on doing just that.

“We’re predominantly still a manufacturer and make as much of our product as we can on site in Washington, but establishing the wholesale side has added a very useful supplementary income stream to the business and it’s an area where we see a lot of potential. “

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