Cotswold Business & Professional’s 34 top exporters
PUBLISHED: 16:17 08 January 2019

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Archant
In association with Omega Global Resource Group, we look at the 34 giants of exporting that are putting the Cotswolds on the map
From one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers to vacuum cleaner innovators, medical technology giants to aerospace wizards, expertise developed in the Cotswolds is touching every continent.
The UK is the 9th biggest manufacturing nation in the world, according to new figures released by the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.
And a sizeable proportion of that output - 45% - is being shipped to countries across the globe.
These exports total an eye-watering £275bn and fuel the economies of nations from the US - UK manufacturers’ biggest market - to other big players including Germany, France and the Netherlands.
“Exports remain in the driving seat in explaining manufacturing performance,” said a spokesman for the EEF. It’s proof, if proof were needed, that these 34 giants of exporting - and there are many, many more in our region - really are putting the Cotswolds on the map.
Brockworth, Gloucestershire, GL3 4AQ
£40m turnover
99.9% exports
TBS Engineering is a world-leader in producing automatic machinery for the lead acid battery industry. It develops and supplies batteries to OEM and replacemement battery manufacturers which go on to produce millions of batteries that power the biggest names in the automotive industry including BMW, Honda, VW and Ford.
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Gaydon, Warwickshire, CV35 0RR
£25.8bn turnover
Land Rover exports to 169 countries and Jaguar exports to 63. Jaguar Land Rover is the UK’s largest vehicle manufacturer, reporting pre-tax profits of £1.5bn for the year to March 2018. Vehicle sales hit 614,308 driven by strong demand for the Range Rover Velar, new Discovery and Jaguar F-PACE. The company has invested £4.2bn in new automotive technologies, production and R&D facilities.
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Staverton, Gloucestershire, GL2 9QH
£712m turnover
Exports to more than 50 countries
95% of turnover attributed to exports
Safran Landing Systems is a world leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of aircraft landing and breaking systems. It supports 25,000 aircraft flying with 900 airlines and makes more than 40,000 landings every day.
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Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 5EP
£137.6m turnover
Exports to more than 30 countries Three market-leading brands - Kohler, Mira and Rada - power the morning oblutions of millions of people around the globe. Since 1921, the company has been specialising in bathroom and washroom solutions for domestic and commercial environments. Through Rada, it provides water control valves for healthcarfe, education, sport and leisure applications.
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Quedgeley, Gloucester, GL2 4NF
£106.9m turnover
Exports to 64 countries
86% of turnover attributed to exports
Severn Glocon Group provides a range of valves and associated services of the oil and gas industry and the full spectrum of energy industries from subsea to LNG and power. In recent years, it has made significant progress in renewable power technology and water.
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Warndon, Worcester, WR4 9NF
£438.21m turnover
Exports to 30 countries in Europe alone
80% of all tools are manufactured in Worcester
Established in 1919, Mazak is a world leader in the development of the machine tool industry. It manufactures advanced machine tools including multi-tasking centres, CNC turning centres, maching centres and laser processing machines. It has bases in Japan, the US, Singapore and China, as well as in Worcestershire.
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Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8NA
£64.3m turnover
Exports globally
Bill Moog invented the first industrial Moog Servo Valve in the early 1950s and in 2018, the company is celebrated 50 years of British manufacturing. It makes primary and secondary flight control and actuation systems for all types of aircraft; rotor monitoring systems for wind turbine blades and valves for Formula 1 cars.
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Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QX
£297m
Exports globally
90% of turnover attributed to exports
Oxford Instruments is a leading provider of high technology tools and systems for research and industry. Started by Sir Martin Wood in his garden shed, it was first listed on the Stock Exchange in 1983 and had a pioneering role in the development of magnetic resonance imaging technology for MRI full-body scanners.
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Tewkesbury, Gloucesteshire, GL20 8ND
$9.5bn turnover
Exports to 40 countries
L3 TRL Technology works with global defence, government organisations and business partners to keep the world safer. It operates in the fields of cyber security and electronic warfare, creating scalable and reslilient solutions by investing in innovation, delivering excellence and remaning responsive. Last autumn, it acquired Azimuth Security and Linchpin Labs, two market-leading information and security businesses.
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Oxford, OX4 6NL
98.6bn Euro turnover
Exports to more than 110 countries
80% of turnover attributed to exports
Plant Oxford is the nerve centre for the production of BMW’s iconic Mini fleet. It forms part of the production triangle along with Plant Hams Hall, where engines are made, and Plant Swindon, where body pressings and sub-assemblies are built.
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Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1NY
Exporting to Europe , the USA, Australia, the Far East and India.
£105m turnover
Exports account for 85% of the business
Corin is a global leader in orthopaedic technology and innovation. Its award-winning medical devices have helped thousands of patients worldwide back to health thanks to bespoke hip and knee replacements. Several key acquisitions in 2017/18 are propelling export growth.
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Spirax-Sarco Engineering Group Plc
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 8ER
Turnover £998m
Exports to more than 100 countries
Headquarted in Cheltenham, Spirax-Sarco Engineering Plc is a multi-national industrial engineering group. It employs more than 1,000 people in the Cotswolds region and is made up of two leading businesses - Spirax Sarco for steam and electrical thermal energy, and Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group for nich peristaltic pumps.
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Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12 8JR
£611.5m turnover
Exports to more than 50 countries worldwide
95% business attributed to exports
Offices in 75 countries
Renishaw is a global company with core skills in measurement, motion control, healthcare, spectosopy and manufacturing. It supplies products and services used in applications from jet engines and wind turbine manufacture to dentistry and brain surgery.
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Waterwells Business Park, Gloucester, GL2 2HA
£20.3m turnover
85% of the business attributed to exports
Prima Dental, winner of two Queen’s Awards for International Trade, designs and manufactures precision dental instruments and dental drills. It makes 20m of them every year in its purpose-built, £3.5m factory. Key markets are the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia with developing markets in Latin America, China and India.
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Worcester, WR2 5EG
2.5bn Yen turnover
Exports underground mining equipment to almost every major mine worldwide
Japanese giant Komatsu Mining Corp bought Worcester-based Joy Global in 2017 for $3.7bn, bringing the global workforce to 57,000. It supplies surface and underground mining produts to most of the major mines across the globe. It is headquartered in Milwaukee.
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Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire, OX29 OTA
£49.3m turnover
Exports to 90 countries
50% of exports attributed to turnover
JPS is a PPE specialist, making award-winning helmets as well as respiratory, eye, height and hearing protection, road safety equipment and spill control products. It’s a market-leader in Europe with overseas operations in France, Germany, Ireland,Dubai and China. More than 40m workers use JPS products every day
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£32.1m turnover
50% of turnover attributed to exports
Exports to more than 50 countries
Avon Metals is a multi-award-winning, privately owned manufacturer of speciality avonn and copper alloy ingots and a prodessor and trader of scrap aluminium, copper, nickel and cobalt revert alloys. It’s also a processor and trader of exotic, conflict-free minor metals including tungesten, magnesium, manganese, silicon and tantalum.
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Cheltenham, GL54 4DX
£14m turnover
Exports to 50 countries
85% of turnover attributed to exports
A Queen’s Award-winner, Auger Torque designs andd manufactures a range of attachments for excavators, tele-handlers and truck cranes. The product range includes earth drills, augers, trenchers, hedge trimmers, log splitters and stump planers.
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Hardwicke, Gloucester, GL2 4PA
£58.8m turnover
Exports to 27 countries
More than 94% of turnover attributed to exports
Advanced Insulation provides insulation and fire-proofing services as well as cryogenic spill protection to offshore oil and gas customers. Its products are also used in industral process plants and in the marine, nuclear and offshore wind industries.
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£2.4m turnover
45% of turnover attributed to exports
A major supplier to the oil and gas, nuclear, marine, automotive and rail industries, Truturn exports to China, the USA, Canada, France, Denmark, Germany and Holland. It makes precision machine parts, fabrications and electro-mechanical assemblies.
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Warndon, Worcestershire, WR4 9FB
£120.8m turnover
Exports to 13 countries
Founded in 2001 by former VAX employee Nick Grey in his garage, Gtech has to date sold more than 22 million of its cordless vacuum cleaners and garden machinery into 13 countries around the world. It has staff in the UK, US and China.
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Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, GL55 6DY
£7m turnover
Exports to 83 countries
More than 40% of turnover attributed to exports
Winners of two Queen’s Awards, Robert Welch is a designer and supplier of high quality cutlery, tableware, kitchenware and bathroom products to major hotel groups, retailers, restaurants and private customers.
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Bishop’s Cleeve, Cheltenham, GL52 7DQ
£16.4m turnover
Exports to 11 countries
34% of turnover attributed to exports
PKL Group is the UK’s leading supplier of temporary kitchens and catgering equipment for hire. It has 600 portable kitchens and more than 10,000 items of catering equipment in its hire fleet.
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Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2BY
£24m turnover
100% of turnover attributed to exporting
International brand-builder Tudor Rose exports several well-known British brands including Wagon Wheels, PG Tips, Marmite and Yeo Valley to countries all around the world.
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Hempsted, Gloucester, GL2 5HG
£12.9m turnover
Exports to more than 10 countries
Gantrail specialises in the design, supply and installation of crane rail systems. It serves a worldwide market for its products and services and is a leader in its field.
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Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX13 6RX
£1.5m turnover
55% of turnover attributed to exports
Frontline is a vehicle restoration company and component manufacturer, exporting a mixture of complete cars to private owners to individiual small vehicle parts being sold into distributors worldwide.
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Standlake, Oxfordshire, OX29 7PL
£7.9million turnover
Exports to 90 countries
70% of turnover attributed to exports
Flightline Support Ltd manufactures and exports aircraft refuelling systems and vehicles to customers worldwide. Parent company Flofuel has recently acquired Nailsworth-based Fluid Transfer International, the world-leader in refuelling solutions for the aviation and maritime industries. It exports to 85 countries worldwide.
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Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8DN
Turnover: undisclosed
Exports to 40 countries
85% of turnover attributed to exports
Last summer, Freeman Technology was bought by Micrometrics Instrument Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of premium products for advanced material characterisation. The firm is a winner of two Queen’s Awards,one for Enterprise in innovation and one for Enterprise in International Trade. It specialises in systems for measuring the flow properties of powders.
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Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL54 9JU
£11.6m turnover
Exports to 35 countries
40% of turnover atrributed to exports
Cotek Papers manufactures silicone release coated papers and films for a range of manufacturing industires. Recent developments include a range of economical but highly stable clay coated papers and Flurosilicone coated papers for use with silicone pressure-sensitive adhesives.
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Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 3JU
£28.3m turnover
Exports to 70 countries
More than 70% of turnover atrributed to exports
Norbar is dedicated to the design, development and production of torque tightening and measuring equipment. It’s the only torque equipment manufacturer to offer torque and tool instrument calibration and recalibration on four continents and boasts accredited labs in Adelaide, Australia, Ohio in the States, Singapore and Shanghai.
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Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3NB
£12.5m turnover
More than 80% of turnover attributed to exports
Exports to 90 countries
Headquartered in Abingdon, Penlon makes world-renowned medical devices in the key areas of anaesthesia, instubation and suction and oxygen therapy as well as OEM and technical service. It has a presence in 90 countries across Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Asia.
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Berinsfield, Oxfordshire, OX10 7LN
£18.8m turnover
Exports to 30 countries
80% of turnover attributed to exports
Williams Jet Tenders manufactures the globe’s finest jet tenders. Started by two brothers in a garden shed in the mid-90s, the company now has relationships with some of the world’s leading luxury yacht builders.
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Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8SL
Turnover: undisclosed
Exports to more than 35 countries
Almost 80% of turnover atrributed to exports
Quickgrind is a leading manufacturer of precisionn, solid carbide rotary cutting tools for the die, metalworking, aerospace and automotive industries, including Formula 1. The firm exports both off-the-shelf and bespoke solutions for customers across the world.
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Cheltenham. Gloucestershire, GL51 9NW
£872m turnover
Operates in 515 branded locations in 46 countries worldwide
Superdry.com sells to 100 countries worldwide
Started by entrepreneur Julian Dunkerton, the clothing company focuses on high-quality products fusing vintage Americana and Japanese style. Part of SuperGroup, its celebrity fans include David Beckham and Idris Elba.