Member Article

Durham glass firm invest in unique machinery

County Durham based glass suppliers, Romag are to spend almost £1m on state-of-the-art machinery unique to the UK.

The investment comes as part of the firm’s ambitious growth strategy that will see £2m used to expand production at its Consett factory and take on 20 new members of staff.A bespoke funding deal was put together by the Newcastle-based Corporate & Institutional Banking team at Royal Bank of Scotland.

Sean Brodie, Romag’s finance director, said: “This year has been a definitive year for the firm, illustrated succinctly by the delivery of the new state-of-the-art machine.

“This will substantially increase Romag’s production firepower and help us reach more clients and service our existing client base even further.

“I’ve been delighted with Royal Bank of Scotland’s help in putting the funding and related facilities together and look forward to working with the RBS team in Newcastle in the future.”

The money will be used to purchase a hi-tech Japanese processing machine which will dramatically improve efficiencies and manufacturing capability at its factory.

RBS’ Lombard division helped to facilitate the investment, and RBS Global Transaction Services was used to provide advice on importing the machine from Japan while RBS CIB’s foreign exchange unit helped with currency interchange.

Additional staff will work in Romag’s glass production and supporting departments as the firm gears up to supply its specialist glass products.

Graham Robinson, relationship director for RBS CIB in Newcastle, said: “Romag and the Gentoo Group are welcome success stories in the North East and we have worked hard to make sure these companies thrive and grow on the local, national and international stage.

“We value clients extremely highly and the bespoke package that RBS CIB put together using multiple teams in the RBS group shows how effectively we can support firms looking to maximise opportunities.”

Specialising in solar, architectural, security and transport glass, Romag has been based in the North East since 1943, and since April 2011 has been a subsidiary of Sunderland based Gentoo Group.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .