Insider Media Limited

Rotherham-based AESSEAL has revealed it hopes to double turnover to £200m by 2015. Chief executive Jonathan Wilkinson told Insider a mixture of rapid growth overseas while gaining market share at home would help the mechanical engineering company achieve its aim.

"Our plans for growth in the Far East and emerging economies are clearly, in percentage terms, far higher than in the UK and Europe in general," said Wilkinson.

"But we're planning for good growth in the UK and the eurozone based on our experience and our results over the last few years.

"We are taking market share off our competitors and while we may be planning 30 to 40 per cent growth in some of the emerging economies, we’re still planning 10 to 15 per cent growth in what you might call more mature economies like the UK and Europe."

The company is currently the world’s 4th largest mechanical seal manufacturer and posted turnover of £104m in its most recent accounts.

"Our planned growth rate of doubling the business in three to four years means we've got to achieve 20 to 25 per cent growth per annum and that will come from a mixture of those things; 30, 40, even 50 per cent growth in some countries overseas, but nevertheless good growth in the UK by taking market share from competitors," said Wilkinson.

AESSEAL, which has grown at an average rate of more than 20 per cent per year since it was established in 1979, currently operates in 104 countries around the world but is always on the lookout for new opportunities.

"We sell into all the major GDPs around the world," said Wilkinson.

"Out of the top 20 countries by GDP we’ve got a direct presence in 16 of them and probably a presence through distribution in the others. But then on top of the big, in particular industrial, GDPs, we look at growth rates in economies and we look at where our global customers have gone. For example, we sell into international chemical businesses and if they set up in a particular area we follow them – we need to stay close to the customers.

“On top of that, we shouldn't underestimate the importance of what I'd call emergent strategies where we come across opportunities and great people where we set up from scratch."

He added: "Our key driver is to deliver our products and services to customers wherever they may be. We are in a niche industry which is probably only worth $3-$4bn worldwide so we have to go wherever those customers are around the world."