A company set up by the Welsh inventor of the electronic breathalyser is set to beat the £1m turnover mark fuelled almost entirely by export sales.
PPM Technology manufactures toxic gas monitors and indoor air quality sensors, and has seen turnover rise consistently over recent years, from £660,000 in 2014 to £850,000 at the end of the last financial year in August.
The Wales-based company has had a turnover of £550,000 since September so is set to hit £1 million this year.
PPM was originally set up by Dr Tom Parry Jones, whose Lion Laboratories developed the world’s first electronic breathalyser in the 1990s.
John Brinley Jones, managing director at PPM Technology said: “We have seen great export success over the years and exports have played a crucial role in growing the company. UK sales are steady, but to achieve growth we must find new export markets, especially in the Far East.”
“We’re always improving our range. We work closely with distributors with knowledge of the market and the appropriate legislation,” he said.
“The trade missions are fantastic. I’ve been travelling the world for years, and there’s nothing worse than travelling to a country you haven’t been by yourself. When you’re with an organised trade mission you meet so many people and companies, everything’s done for you. They have been invaluable.”
Previously PPM had mostly sold its formaldehyde monitors to the hospital market in the UK, EU and USA.
But new legislation designed to combat Sick Building Syndrome – a condition linked to poor indoor air quality which can lead to people suffering from headaches, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and eye, nose and throat irritation – meant a new market for PPM’s products emerged in Japan.
PPM Technology operates out of a single facility on the Cibyn Industrial Estate, Caernarfon, where it employs 12 staff.