12:40pm Thursday 18th September 2008
By Owen McAteer
THE world’s oldest conservatory company is planning to build on its international trade success with a major coast-to-coast marketing campaign in the US.
Amdega, based in Darlington, has recently appointed an American distributor and will spend the final quarter of the year on a promotional push, featuring in some of the biggest magazines in the country.
The company, which has representatives in 15 countries worldwide, recently appointed an international sales mananger.
In the first six months of this year, Amdega experienced a 25 per cent increase in exports to the Far East, Europe and the US.
International design director Paul Cruddace said: “It is quite an exciting time for Amdega. We have just appointed a new distributor for the US, based in New Jersey.
“We have a US marketing campaign starting this month for the last quarter of the year.
“It is a large campaign covering the whole country and featuring in some big magazines over there.
“We wouldn’t have put all this money behind a big campaign if we didn’t think something was going to come out of it.
“We also have quite a strong advertising campaign for Southern Ireland in the last quarter of the year and we have just appointed an international sales support manager, so all in all we are doing very well.”
Mr Cruddace said he believed the internet was one reason companies could not afford to ignore the international market.
He said: “The internet has made the world a much, much smaller place from a business point of view.”
Amdega has also seen a growth in new orders in the UK this year, despite the credit crunch.
Mr Cruddace said: “It can be taken two ways. People who decide not to move house may then invest in the home they have and so Amdega builds a quality extension.”
Amdega was launched in 1874 and employs about 315 people in the UK, the majority in its workshops in Darlington.
Annual turnover, which includes a significant proportion of international trade, reached £29m last year.
On Tuesday, figures released by HM Revenue and Customs showed that the North-East had enjoyed the highest growth in exports of any region in the UK.
They had risen by 26 per cent on the previous year, compared to about eight per cent for the UK as a whole.
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