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Bdaily meets Cheshire Queen's Award winners Stirling Lloyd

Stirling Lloyd Polychem is a Knutsford-based manufacturer and the winner of a Queen’s Award for International Trade.

The company exports its waterproofing and surface materials to civil engineers and construction firms all over the world.

Bdaily spoke to their export director, John Volpicelli, about what the award means to the business, exports, and his views on the North West business landscape.

So what does winning the Queen’s Award mean to Sterling Lloyd?

“It’s not easy to export in our field. It’s nice to be able to recognise the efforts of all the staff who support the export business.

“From production to the sales team to the technical team who support the work in the far flung corners of the world. They give a lot of time and effort, and it’s nice to see it recognised.

“For the business as a whole it’s nice to be identified as a serious exporter. It’s good for team morale and for the whole company, and it’s something special as well.”

As a major North West exporter, what kind of targets do you set yourselves as a business?

“We’ve been exporting for over 20 years now, and this accounts for over 60% of the company’s turnover.

“We set ourselves a target of 15% growth year-on-year and I think it’s fair to say, with the slowdown in construction and infrastructure, that exports make up the shortfall.”

Stirling Lloyd is long-established is the North West with over 40 years of experience. How well equipped is the region for this type of business?

“The North West is a strong place for us. We’re obviously well served by Manchester Airport and we’ve got good motorway links.

“Sadly there’s no shortage of industrial property so we were able to buy a very good site two and half years ago.

“There’s a quality of people as well in terms of having some very good schools like Manchester Grammar, so we’re able to recruit a high quality of people.

“We think we’ve got good infrastructure and great facilities. Knutsford is also a brilliant place to show our visitors when they come from overseas.

“What we do need is a high speed railway because lots of businesses are feeling the need to move down south because there’s so much investment in infrastructure down there.

“It would be nice to see some investment in the North West so businesses have a better choice of where they want to be.

“Perhaps some of the service industries could move up here, but for our industry we’re very well served.”

Stirling Lloyd Polychem secured one of 13 Queen’s Awards given out to businesses and entrepreneurs in the North West, which included a Lifetime Achievement award.

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