European Circuits Ltd powers up its growth with exporting ambitions

Clydebank-based company, European Circuits Ltd, has grown its revenue in the last five years by an average of 14.4% per year, and is on track to achieve turnover of around £3 million this financial year, with help from Scottish Enterprise. The company cites service development and overseas trading as the key drivers of its present and future growth.

The company’s achievements were discussed during a visit from Fergus Ewing, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and Charlie Stewart, Company Growth Support Director at Scottish Enterprise, today to find out more about the company’s ambitious growth plans and its success to date.

Mr Ewing said, “I am very impressed with the proactive work European Circuits Ltd have undertaken to extend their global reach. Their success brings us one step closer to the Scottish Governments ambitious plan to secure a 30-50% increase in the number of active exporters over the next ten years.”

European Circuits provides integrated electronic assembly solutions, which include the manufacture, assembly, testing and design of printed circuit boards. It is one of only two companies to offer all these services from a single location in Scotland. Created in 1999, the company has continually identified and responded to changing economic and market demands over the years.

Its customers include businesses in markets such as industrial monitoring, data acquisition, automotive, F1, security, oil and gas, military, medical, robotics and broadcast.

Previously, the company’s business model targeted p-type and low volume production work in the UK. By enhancing its product capabilities and assisting its customers get to market quickly, the company is now winning higher value and medium volume contracts in the UK and abroad.

Jim Broom, Sales Director for European Circuits Ltd, said, “We’ve enjoyed good growth within the UK by steadily improving our manufacturing technology and customer service levels. It’s now our intention to draw on this success to grow our international sales. So far, we’ve had limited resource to move forward with our overseas trading.

“Although we are already seeing small levels of business across 10 European countries, we are still in the early stages of researching and understanding the various overseas markets before deciding on a formal strategy or level of dedicated resource. Our participation in a recent exhibition in Paris, and a forthcoming one in Goteborg, Sweden, will definitely help with this. I want our exports to represent around 10% of our turnover figure in the next year.”

Scottish Enterprise has worked with the company for seven years through its account management approach. This intensive, holistic business growth support has included help for the company to relocate to larger premises in 2009, with the aid of a Regional Selective Assistance grant of £100,000. The new premises accommodate more staff and greater manufacturing capacity to grow the business.

Ray Calder, European Circuit’s Scottish Enterprise account manager, commented, “Recently I’ve been working with European Circuits to help the team develop its social media strategy and website presence to drive sales.

“Most of the company’s international sales have been achieved through these channels, with exports growing from 1.2% of turnover three years ago, to now accounting for 5.4% of turnover. The company’s ambition to increase this percentage of exports to double digits should provide an opportunity to grow revenues even further in the near future.”

The company has also worked with Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) to implement a balanced scorecard system to measure effectiveness of its manufacturing processes.

A core component in the company’s future growth is the aspiration to enter new overseas markets, with the business working with Scottish Development International and recently participating in a Scottish Enterprise International Strategy Workshop to help shape the company’s growth strategy.

In October this year, European Circuits exhibited at a trade exhibition in Paris and it plans to exhibit at another trade event in Sweden in January 2013.