Member Article

Sheffield’s Tata-backed UK Steel Enterprise provides £25k funding for entrepreneur

Sheffield-based UK Steel Enterprise, the Tata Steel business-support subsidiary, has provided a £25k funding package for a creative entrepreneur in the North East.

Design X-Press Ltd, started by Juliette Middlebrough in 1995, now has its sights set on a £1 million turnover within the next four years, and UK Steel Enterprise, has backed the company’s latest £130k investment package with its unsecured loan.

Design X-Press is a large format printer producing posters, leaflets, banners, signs, exhibition stands, canvas photos and digital wallpapers for customers in the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East.

Through contracts with design agencies and print management companies it prints for household names including The Co-operative, Thorntons, The London Eye, Aviva, Nandos, Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds and BP as well as various government accounts and local authorities.

The expansion into a new unit on Consett’s Number One Industrial Estate included the purchase of a second flat-bed printer and flat-bed automated cutting system. It is not long since the company invested in its first flat-bed printer and installed new technology.

Now the nine members of the Design X-Press team, praised by Juliette as “exceptionally strong” are ready for a busy 2015 and the expected growth should lead to six new jobs.

Juliette said: “Acquiring our first flat-bed printer allowed us to be much more competitive on price, to bid for bigger contracts and move into new areas such as cut-outs, signage and display boxes.

“We soon realised we needed another printer and a cutter to meet the growing demand.

“We now have more space, a very efficient work-flow area and ideal access for deliveries and despatch. The two new contracts are for thousands of roll-top exhibition banners and both came just as we moved.

“We have also just secured a further two-year contract with our local authority for large format products and a new two-year contract for signage.

“The support from UK Steel Enterprise has been fantastic and the unsecured loan was crucial to our expansion plans. The whole process was very thorough but also speedy,” she added.

Support also came from the Regional Growth Fund, through Lombard Asset Finance, and the government-funded Growth Accelerator programme.

Sarah Thorpe of UK Steel Enterprise, said: “Design X-Press has an excellent customer base and reputation as well as a strong niche position with food retailers.

“Expansion was vital to meet the demand from existing customers and to move into new markets and we were happy to provide support.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .