Member Article

Best of region triumph in Greater China Awards 2014

Rochdale based Precision Technologies Group (PTG Holroyd) is celebrating after winning the Greater China Business Award for the North West, announced at the Lowry Theatre.

The Greater China Business Award rewards the company or organisation that has made the most significant contribution to developing business or network links with Greater China, including bi-lateral trade or investment.

The event is organised by UK Trade & Investment North West and sponsored by Finnair, HSBC and Klako Group. The winners received international flight tickets, courtesy of Finnair.

PTG has been developing connections in China and Taiwan since the 1980s, and established a Chinese office in 2007. The company was acquired by Chongqing Machinery & Electric Co Ltd (CQME) in 2009, and significant investment has since been made in the business, boosting R&D and skills and new product development.

As a result sales into China have increased year on year, with recent successes including sales of a £1.6m helical grinder machine purchased by one of China’s leading manufacturers of refrigeration compressors, and Powerstir Friction Welders which create high strength welded joints which were used to manufacture the longest ever railway car panel weld in China, at over 15 metres long.

PTG is also a founder member of the Manchester-China Forum, an initiative aimed at strengthening ties between the city region and China.

Runner-up was Instem from Liverpool, which supplies IT solutions to the global drug and chemical markets. Instem made a strategic decision to invest in Greater China, a growth market for pharmaceuticals, and now has a full-service office in Shanghai.

The company was the first western toxicology software supplier to enter the Chinese market, and today wins the majority of contracts awarded there. In 2010 Instem established an office in Shanghai to provide local customer support and service delivery, working closely with representatives of the China Britain Business Council to set this up. It now hopes to widen its presence to other Chinese cities.

Third place went to Sigmatex from Runcorn. Having successfully exported to mainland China for many years, the company set up a wholly owned manufacturing facility in Shanghai four years ago, and now trades within China and exports from the Shanghai facility to Thailand, Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

Philomena Chen, Head of Asia Pacific Development for UK Trade & Investment North West said: “There was an outstanding level of entries for this year’s Greater China Awards, across a wide range of sectors from advanced manufacturing to food production and from IT to chemicals.

“The 2014 winners are the companies who have showed the most evidence of a commitment to the market and who have successfully expanded their business in mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

“Our winner, PTG Holroyd, has struck an excellent balance between China and the UK in the areas of research, production and market penetration.

“The company has always shown great determination in the Chinese market, immersing itself in local culture and business practices as early as the 1980’s when few businesses had the foresight to anticipate China’s growth potential.

“Runner up Instem is a pathfinder for its industry and has shown great success in penetrating an extremely challenging and complex market.”

Clive Drinkwater, Regional Director for UK Trade & Investment North West, said: “Exports from our region to Greater China in the 12 months ending September 2013 were around £2 billion, and China has been the North West’s strongest growth market for several years. Our 3rd biggest export customer, it has overtaken historically big markets such as Ireland and the Netherlands.

“There has been major growth in many sectors, including iron and steel (up 1000% to £46m) organic chemicals (up 93% to £58m) and even drinks (up 138% to £421,000), but as these awards show, there is great potential across many sectors.

“We are extremely proud of our success in China, and I would strongly encourage other companies in the North West to make sure the region is winning the global race in the Year of the Horse by following the example of our winners and exploring opportunities there with the help of our Asia-Pacific business team.”

The Greater China Recognition Award, given to an organisation or individual that has contributed greatly to furthering relationships with Greater China went to Janice Russell. She is the Senior International Manager of HSBC Spinningfields, Manchester. UKTI in this region have worked closely together with her to help companies develop their International Trade. She has chaired Greater Manchester’s International Committee and been consistent in her support of UKTI’s work in the region.

Philomena Chen added, “Janice has given personal ongoing support for companies looking to trade in Greater China over a significant number of years. She has worked closely with the UKTI team and organises joint activities with us on a regular basis. Janice is well known in the region for her unfailing good humour and enthusiasm.”

Biomass Engineering Ltd from Newton-le-Willows was named as the Greater China Rising Star.

The award goes to the company which has achieved the most in Greater China despite only trading in the market for 3 years or less. The awards are sponsored by Finnair, Klako Group and HSBC.

Biomass Engineering Ltd design, deliver and install Renewable Energy solutions in the UK and Europe, and until recently had not targeted China as a market. However in 2012 the company entered a competition to create a design for a renewable energy project in Shanghai. The Hongqiao Central Business District will be the first low-carbon development of its type in China.

Despite competition from large multi-nationals such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and General Electric, as well as local Chinese companies, the Newton-based business won the competition, and is now working as a member of the strategy team for the Central Business District Project.

Since then Biomass Engineering has met and discussed opportunities with officials from many other regions of China, and created a wholly foreign owned enterprise, Biomass Energy China (BEC) in Shanghai.

Runner up was Kendal company Q Medical Technologies Ltd. The company exports products which prevent cross infections in the medical and food industries, and has been working with mainland China and Hong Kong for two years.

In this short time, business has grown until Q Medical sells almost as much to China and Hong Kong as it does in the UK. The company has two staff in Southern China and one in Hong Kong to help grow the business and expects sales to keep growing rapidly now that the new technology has been accepted into the market.

Third place went to Tulip Ltd from Dukinfield, exporters of Pork Meat products. Tulip Ltd only began exporting directly to China in 2012, and since then has grown exports more than 30% each year. The company hope to become the UK’s leading exporter of pork meat products for the Chinese market.

Philomena Chen said: “There was an outstanding level of entries for this year’s Rising Star Award, and the 2014 winners are the companies who have showed the most evidence of a commitment to the market and who have successfully begun trading in mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

“The winner, Biomass Engineering Ltd, seized an opportunity to sell into China with its technology and has built on this by opening a wholly owned subsidiary and a joint venture to enable further growth.

“Runner up, Q Medical Ltd, has grown its sales in China in the past two years and now sells as much there as in its well established UK market, with enormous future growth anticipated.

“All our Rising Star winners have made great progress in the market in the few years they have been trading there, and I am sure they will continue to grow and thrive in the market.”

Clive Drinkwater said: “Exports from our region to Greater China in the 12 months ending September 2013 were around £2 billion, and China has been the North West’s strongest growth market for several years. Our 3rd biggest export customer, it has overtaken historically big markets such as Ireland and the Netherlands.

“There has been major growth in many sectors, including iron and steel (up 1000% to £46m) organic chemicals (up 93% to £58m) and even drinks (up 138% to £421,000), but as these awards show, there is great potential across many sectors.

“We are extremely proud of our success in China, and I would strongly encourage other companies in the North West to make sure the region is winning the global race in the Year of the Horse by following the example of our winners and exploring opportunities there with the help of our Asia-Pacific business team.”

Three universities in Greater Manchester are named winners in the race to be the most successful in establishing educational links with Greater China.

The Greater China Awards are organised by UK Trade & Investment North West and reward the organisations that have made the most significant contribution to developing network links with Greater China. The awards are sponsored by Finnair, Klako Group and HSBC.

The winner, the University of Salford, was last year’s runner up, and has a long history in China, dating back to 1987. The university has a regional office in China, the Beijing Representative Office, responsible for the delivery of international student recruitment in China.

Links are strong, with research collaboration and promotion, academic exchanges, academic conferences and work with third parties such as the British Council. Salford University also has a high profile in China, with Alumni Associations in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, a Mandarin website, and Chinese Twitter feed.

Runner-up was Manchester Metropolitan University, which has an office in Guangzhou, and has 318 students from Greater China currently studying in the UK. MMU also has a number of partnerships with institutions such as Wuhan University, Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Memoranda of Understanding with a range of Chinese institutions around research collaboration, staff and student exchange and joint curriculum development.

In third place was the University of Bolton, which has signed 6 MOUs in the last 6 months with a range of Chinese universities for programmes to encourage their students to come to Bolton, and is working hard to increase its market recognition in China, raise the number of students and establish collaborations with Chinese institutions and companies in research and business projects.

All the awards were announced at the Greater China Awards and Chinese New Year Dinner on Friday 21st February at the Lowry Theatre in Salford.

They were presented by Fred Charpentier from Finnair and the finalists announced by Consul General Pan Yundong. The ceremony also included a celebration dinner to welcome in the Chinese Year of the Horse.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .