NatWest secures million pound deal for County Durham mechanics company

County Durham-based mechanical engineering firm, Mill Masters International is accelerating its export trading plans after securing a new finance deal with NatWest.

The £1.1m export trade facility from NatWest was partially guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government-run export credit agency, and will provide working capital to support two significant contracts to supply machinery to Spain and Mexico.

Worth around £2m, the contracts will supply a leading global supplier and development partner to the automotive industry - with core assembly machinery to assist with the production of automotive heat exchangers, such as radiators and condensers.

Mill Masters was established in 2014, and manufactures and supplies machines and tooling. Its annual turnover currently stands at £5m, holding 38 employees. The firm’s UK division is headed by director, Chris Harford and business manager, Peter Chappell.

Peter Chappell said: “The UK is a key strategic growth platform for Mill Masters International and over the last 12 months, we have more than doubled our sales and export volumes, creating a significant number of new jobs in the process.”

The contract to provide two machines for the automotive supplier’s Spanish operation was completed in January and around six machines are currently being assembled to be supplied to their Mexico site in the next few weeks.

The new export contracts with the automotive supplier have contributed to the creation of 20 new jobs at its County Durham site over the last 12 months.

Chris Harford added: “Working with NatWest and with the support of the UKEF programme, we were able to secure the finance to deliver multimillion export contracts and enhance our presence with key automotive industry suppliers across the globe.”