Member Article

ACDC lights up exports in the North West

ACDC Lighting is a Lancashire-based business that exports low-energy lighting products all over the world. With links to countries across the whole of Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, North America, India, Malaysia and Australia, the company has been granted with the Queen’s Award for international trade in April 2012, and has since become a UK Trade and Investment Champion.

The company was founded in 1978 and started exporting to lighting designers across the world in the 1990s. Specialising in long-life LED and cold cathode lighting, ACDC came to prominence in the lighting industry after its work on Manchester’s Trafford Centre.

Bdaily spoke to Antonio Parente, European business development manager for the business, who told us about how ACDC Lighting became such a successful exporter.

“We were fortunate, because when we made our marketing decisions, we realised that by contacting lighting designers and showing them our products, they could specify our products into projects that they’re working on in countries all over the world.

“In the UK, most lighting designers work in London, and 80% of them are within a one mile radius in Shoreditch. Of all the big, prestigious lighting projects in the world, the majority of them have all been designed by British designers, from London.

“So the company was quite simple to develop and grow working with these designers. It’s a case of once we know which country the project’s in, then we look into that country, try to find a distributor and move in quick.”

ACDC Lighting wasn’t always an exporter, and worked within the UK market from its base in Barrowford for nearly 20 years without venturing into cross-border deals. Now the firm has worked on high profile projects such as the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and the Bitexco Financial Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Antonio explained how the company started the ball rolling.

“In 1998 we did the Trafford Centre project with cold cathode lighting, and for some reason that got us onto the map.

“A lot of lighting designers and clients who saw the project wanted us to compete with Oldham Lighting, who at that time was the company in the world that supplied cold cathode lighting. We were asked to submit a quotation, and it started from there.”

ACDC Lighting now has a wide international reach, and still keeps its headquarters in the North West.

“Three years ago we moved into a purpose built factory in Barrowford, and we’re looking to expand now from being a £15m company to £30m in next five years. Our CEO still wants to keep the business and the manufacturing side here in the North West. We’re not going anywhere else.”

So what are the company’s goals for the coming year?

“For our company, of course, it’s growth. But for me personally it’s to grow the Russian market and to look into Africa. There are certain projects coming up in Russia like the World Cup, so there’ll be hotels being built and the like, so there will be lots of opportunities to look forward to.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .