PAROCHIAL ATTITUDES LED TO OVERSEAS EXPANSION

February 2007 - FINANCIAL TIMES

Case Study – Aigis Blast Protection

Derby-based Aigis Blast Protection, which sells material for absorbing bomb blasts, was forced to look to overseas markets because most British buyers thought they had seen everything after years of fighting the IRA, according to David Lawrence, a director.

“There is too much of an attitude that we know about bombs because we have been involved in Ireland for so long,” he says.

More than 95 per cent of Aigis’s sales are outside the UK and the company uses a network of agents across about 70 markets.

Aigis employs 26 people and will have turnover of about £5m this year, but expects to grow rapidly to £20m by 2010.

Being small enables the company to be very flexible and more prepared to take risks, according to Mr Lawrence.

“We can make a judgement in a matter of days on matters that would take large companies weeks or months,” he says.