Member Article

North East company seals deal with Italian manufacturers

County Durham manufacturer, CVO Fire, has signed an exclusive deal with one of Europe’s leading fireplace companies.

The Newton Aycliffe-based designer fires and fireplaces company has become the sole UK supplier of Italkero’s range of exclusive indoor and outdoor heaters.

The range includes patio heaters, balanced flue gas fires, power flue fires, wall and ceiling heaters and stoves.

CVO, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in May with record sales, has spent many months researching the marketplace and seeking a European partner to complement its own range of high-end fires as it continues to grow worldwide.

Italkero, based in Modena in northern Italy, is one of Europe’s most sought-after designer fireplace brands with a reputation spanning 30 years thanks to its exclusive ranges.

MD of CVO Fire, Andrew Munro, explained: “At CVO we invest thousands of pounds in research and development, working hard to respond to marketplace demand. This is constantly evolving with consumer expectations always rising and wanting more unusual fires and fireplaces quickly and on budget.

“There’s a lot of synergy between Italkero and CVO as we operate a very similar company ethos- quality, style and energy-efficiency are fundamental factors in everything we do. This exclusive deal will allow us to further enhance what we offer our customers as we continue to grow and develop more of our own new ranges.”

Andrew Munro and Christine Mcloughlin, CVO’s financial director, took the company over in May 2007 and, since then, turnover has increased by 80% and manufacturing at its Newton Aycliffe headquarters has doubled. Its workforce has also almost quadrupled- in 2007 CVO Fire had five staff but now has a team of 17.

In May, CVO launched a new e-commerce site to help grow the business online, following managers’ research into the changing shopping habits within the fireplace sector. The new website is also helping the company to develop further overseas with many customers from abroad using the site to view and purchase fires and accessories, such as different surrounds and remote control options.

The Newton Aycliffe-based company has become a UK leader in the field of designing and manufacturing high quality fires and fireplaces and has worked with some leading brands including Hilton, Marriott, Greene King, InterContinental, Mercure Hotels and the Connaught Hotel as well as domestic customers and house builders.

Export has also continued to increase with the opening of a CVO showroom in Munich in March 2010 to support existing showrooms in Holland, Norway and Italy where CVO’s British-made designs and quality are in high demand. CVO hopes to launch in the USA within the next 12 months where they are currently working with a distributor on a new range of designs.

http://www.cvofire.co.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison .