9:54am Friday 3rd September 2010
By Andy Richardson
AN electronics firm may be enjoying significant growth in China, but it remains determined to expand its headquarters in Hartlepool, its chief executive has confirmed.
Stadium Group hopes to expand operations at its North- East site, where it employs about 100 staff, after yesterday advising shareholders that interim sales had increased by 37 per cent and operating profit by 151 per cent.
Chief executive Nigel Rogers said: “Our employees in Hartlepool can view these results as very reassuring. I would certainly hope our continued growth will see us expand the number of people we employ in the North-East.
“China has become an important market for us, but our head office is in Hartlepool.
It’s a very important plant to us and will remain so.”
Recent performance suggests the company is rising to the Government’s challenge for the private sector to help lead the UK economy’s recovery, but Mr Rogers believes firms must take the bull by the horns and aggressively pursue new business rather than wait for an upturn in the underlying economic situation to turn around their fortunes.
“It’s absolutely right that the private sector can help drive the recovery, but you shouldn’t underestimate how hard-won are our new customers,”
he said.
“We haven’t had a huge amount of help as far as the economy is concerned. There has been a rebound effect from the very weak period at the beginning of last year, but we must continue to win new business rather than wait for the economy to make a strong recovery.”
Mr Rogers dismissed talk of a double-dip recession, but warned proposed cuts in Government spending on infrastructure projects will have an impact on the private sector.
“Our figures are very positive.
The business has been gathering momentum over the past 12 to 18 months. Investing in sales and marketing has helped a very strong recovery in our existing contracts and won significant new business.”
Stadium Group has targeted high-growth markets such as transport infrastructure and technology for the medical and security industries as the rising spending power of the Chinese middle class opens up new markets.
Mr Rogers added: “China is extremely important for us because it’s the best place to manufacture for a lot of the contracts we have. It’s also given us a footprint in markets that are growing.
“Look at transport infrastructure, for instance. In Europe, high speed rail is still a vision of the future, whereas, in China, they are building it now. We are talking about it, they are just getting on and doing it.”
The company suffered a tragedy last month when Ken Leung, managing director of its Asian arm, and his two daughters were among those killed in a hijacked tourist bus in the Philippines.
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