The Tintometer team recently celebrated a landmark achievement at the company’s official presentation of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Her Majesty the Queen’s representative, the Lord-Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton, presented the company with the Queen’s Award for International Trade, the highest distinction that can be bestowed upon a UK company.
Mr Cay-Peter Voss, Chairman of the Tintometer® Group, and Mr Chris Counsell, managing director thanked the Lord- Lieutenant for presenting the Queen’s Award Insignia of an engraved crystal bowl and framed certificate, on behalf of Her Majesty. The Lord-Lieutenant spent the morning visiting the company’s Amesbury factory, and took great interest in meeting the staff and seeing the company’s work. The entire staff of The Tintometer Ltd from Amesbury and Wadebridge factories were accompanied by Mrs Maja Voss, Managing Director of the Group, and many international colleagues from Germany, the USA, China, Malaysia and India. Prestigious award The Tintometer Ltd won the Queen’s Award for growth in overseas earnings of 160 per cent over the last six years.
“We are so delighted to receive this prestigious award. It is deserved recognition for the hard work and talent of our whole team,” says Chris Counsell. ‘It is even more important to us when you consider that our export growth was achieved during the peak of the financial crisis and the worst recession in the last 100 years.”
Tintometer is a 130 year old company, founded in Salisbury in 1885 by Joseph Williams Lovibond. It is now based in Amesbury, Wiltshire, with three other manufacturing sites in UK and one in India. Over the last 11 years, the family business has grown into an international group, with its headquarters at Tintometer GmbH in Dortmund, Germany. The company manufactures water testing instruments and chemical reagents, and also instruments for measuring colour, all under the Lovibond® brand. Customers are worldwide, with over 75 per cent of sales to countries outside UK.
“One of our distinguishing factors is that we have always been a family business,” explains Counsell. “We are now owned by Cay-Peter Voss, whose entrepreneurial spirit has been a key factor in the group’s rapid growth.”
“A family ethos means staff have always been seen as the key to success. A family can take a long term perspective, constantly investing in the company’s development. We also like to be flexible for customers, and to offer them a choice of technologies.”
Developing Countries Increasingly the company’s products are sought after in developing countries, where there is a need to improve water quality and control the colour of products in industrial processes. Realising that the financial crisis would affect demand in traditional export markets, such as the EU and USA, the company focused on growing sales in the Far East, China and India, which were less affected by the slow-down. Looking to the future, Cay-Peter Voss, Chairman, confirms that the outlook is good.
“We are so pleased to see this recognition for our UK company, and it reflects the emphasis we place on export sales across the whole group. “To ensure our continued success, we are increasing our investment in research and development. Water and colour quality control are two rapidly growing markets worldwide.
“To be granted the Queen’s Award for International Trade is very important for us, and it will certainly help us to achieve more in the future.”
The Tintometer Limited Tel: + 44 (0)1980 664800 www.lovibond.com
