Electronics firm Canford opens Dubai office (From The Northern Echo)

Electronics firm Canford opens Dubai office

1:07pm Wednesday 15th February 2012 in North-East Business News By Owen McAteer

A NORTH-East firm that ensures viewers are able to see live events ranging from the football World Cup to last year's royal wedding has opened a new operation in Dubai.

The Canford Group has opened the office to service its fast growing Middle East market, which now accounts for most of its top-ten export markets.

Having started out 36-years-ago selling microphone equipment to the radio industry the firm, based in Washington, Wearside and employing around 200 staff, now manufactures and supplies broadcast equipment from cables to connectors to firms including Sky and the BBC.

It includes the interconnection equipment that enables high-definition signals to be routed and transmitted from outside broadcast trucks to broadcast satellites allowing billions of people around the world to watch the royal wedding in April, live football World Cup matches and Olympic sporting events, to name but a few.

As well as fulfilling the firm's plans to be closer to its partners in important markets where it already has working relationships Canford was also confident the new Dubai office would provide a stepping stone to new business in emerging markets such as India and East Africa.

It is also good news for its North-East workforce with Canford recently announcing its intention to ramp up development and introduction of new products which will be designed and manufactured in this region.

The firm has appointed Jonathan Keith, who has worked in technology based industries in the Middle East for a number of years to head up the operation.

He is one of four new appointments in senior roles that the firm announced last night.

It comes a year into a five-year plan to boost turnover from £17m to £25m, introduced by chief executive Leif Friestad, who took the reins at the business 12 months ago.

Last night Mr Friestad said: "We have been operating within the region very successfully for over 20 years now, so much so that most of our top ten export markets are in the Middle East.

"Our products already form the core infrastructure of some of the region's major projects such as the Education City in Doha and the television centre in Riyadh.

"Opening this office reflects our continued commitment to our partners in the region and enables us to react even more quickly to their needs.

"It also gets around practical issues like the time difference, we can respond there and then."

The firm, which last year dispatched its millionth order, announced last night that John Slider, a former managing director of Samsung Electronics and European manufacturing director for Sun Microsystems was joining Canford as head of manufacturing.

Anthony Carter also joins from Martek Marine, where he was international sales director, as director of sales.

Dave Holloway, who was already with Canford, assumes the newly created post of director of marketing.