A CUMBERNAULD-based timber stair manufacturer has revealed plans to expand its workforce by nearly 50 per cent after securing funding worth £240,000.
Stockwell, which is projecting a 20 per cent rise in turnover to £880,000 in its current financial year, will also use the funds to install state of the art machinery.
The company, owned by Chris Stockwell, has received a £52,000 Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) from Scottish Enterprise, a £44,000 loan from UK Steel Enterprises and lease purchase funding of £144,000 from Clydesdale Bank.
It will deploy the funds to boost employee numbers to 21 from 11 in the next two years and install machinery which will allow it to manufacture more complex products and enter new markets.
Business Gateway advised Stockwell during the fund-raising process.
Mr Stockwell said: “We’re delighted that the funding package is now in place. We’d always planned to expand and last year Business Gateway organised strategy sessions to help us decide what direction we wanted to go in and how we could achieve our goal.
“Not only did the workshops help us decide what machine we needed and what funding to apply for, they made us realise that an installation service was crucial; it wasn’t enough to just design and manufacture.
“It’s an exciting time for us.”
Mr Stockwell established the company in 2010, two years after a timber manufacturing company he ran with his father was liquidated at the height of the recession. The new business was launched to focus on bespoke, rather than mass market, products.
It designed the staircase at luxury hotel Crossbasket Castle in Blantyre.
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