Member Article

Teesside's WRL Glass Media open Croatian office and top 1000 tonnes in exports

Teesside-based WRL Glass Media has expanded in Europe with the opening of a small Croatian office as its exports top 1,000 tonnes.

The subsidiary of Ward Recylcing Ltd produces a range of 100% recycled glass media products that can be used for a variety of purposes such as swimming pool water filtration and shot blast media.

WRL are now aiming to reach £800k turnover in 2015 as they open their Croatian outpost and export to France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

The growth has been helped by UKTI’s Passport to Export (P2E) scheme, and Overseas Market Introduction reports.

Gareth Godwin, managing director of Ward Recycling Ltd, said: “It’s been an exciting year and the support we’ve had from UKTI, and particularly our ITA Stephen Muir, has been first class.

“The Insight Visits not only gave me a good introduction to the markets but also a real insight into how hard the overseas UKTI representatives work to help companies achieve exports. This gave me the confidence to invest in OMIS reports, as I knew I’d get a good return on the investment.

“UKTI helped us identify the best markets to target and then provided us with the contacts to enable us to meet and develop new clients. We’ve also exhibited at several international trade shows across Europe which helped us reach more new clients.

“We now have orders going to France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy and have opened a small office in the Czech Republic where we have appointed a representative.

“The volume of glass media we are exporting is steadily increasing, we topped 1,000 tonnes recently and aim to triple that in 2014 and double our projected £800,000 turnover in 2015.”

Stephen Muir, one of UK Trade & Investment’s International Trade Advisers, added: “WRL Glass Media has gone from strength to strength over the past year and we’re delighted to have been able to support the company in its efforts to break into new markets.

“The company now has the opportunity to supply a client with a major contract all over Europe on the strength of its product quality, price and customer service – it’s a great example of how the North East can successfully compete in the global race.

“The company has clearly shown that exporting helps companies to grow. We hope its experience will inspire others to follow in its footsteps and next week we will be hosting a series of events as part of Export Week (April 7-11) to help.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .