EXPORTS UNDERPIN GROWTH FOR PIONEERING Tractor Machinery
WEST MIDLANDS AGRIBUSINESS
Growing demand for the Secure Covers product range at home and abroad
is underpinning growth for Shropshire-based agribusiness Thomas and
Fontaine Ltd.
Export of its ground-breaking Secure
Covers product range into varied
agricultural markets around the world
is underpinning significant growth for
Shropshire-based Thomas and Fontaine
Limited (TFL).
The company, which has developed its
pioneering silage clamp covers over the last
15 years, is predicting around 40% of its
£2.5 million 2014/15 turnover will be from
exports, with overall year-on-year growth
expected to reach 30%.
In addition to its established Secure Covers
range, TFL has over the last five years
diversified with the development of its
Secure Windbreak products and has further
innovative applications in the pipeline.
Continued demand both at home and
abroad for the established and new product
lines is forecast to result in a further 20%
growth in 2015/16.
“We are consistently growing our market
share at home in both the clamp cover and
windbreak markets and there remains great
potential in the UK,” says TFL managing
director Andrew Fontaine. “More recently
we have seen an explosion of interest from
overseas, with this now being translated
into significant sales particularly for
Secure Covers. The diversity of use for our
product never ceases to amaze us, with our
expertise being drawn upon from a 5,000
cow unit in Sumatra to large scale custom
applications in California, for example.
Where there are feedstuffs to protect or
ensile, there is demand for Secure Covers.”
The Secure Covers concept pioneered the
idea of a tyre-free, rapid and resilient cover
for silage clamps. The concept is now
applied not only to all forage crops, but is
also applied to straw, baled silage and hay,
and has value ou G6