St Asaph based military vehicle periscope manufacturer wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Apr 21st, 2016

A north Wales based military vehicle periscope manufacturer is one of only four Welsh companies to win this years Queen’s Award for Enterprise the winners of which have been announced today.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the UK’s most prestigious business awards, given only to companies or individuals who are outstanding in
their field.

Now in their 50th year, 2016 sees a high water mark of a total of 254 awards being presented: 150 for International Trade, 92 for Innovation, 7 for Sustainable Development and 5 for Enterprise Promotion.

Amongst the winners is Kent Periscopes a St Asaph based firm which began trading in 2005 and employs around 30 people.

The company which specialises in the design and supply of armoured vehicle sighting solutions and ballistic vision blocks recently won a £9m contract from defence giant Lockheed Martin UK to deliver periscopes and sights for the new AJAX armoured vehicle programme.

Picture: www.kentperiscopes.co.uk

Kent Periscopes customers include global prime contractors of vehicles and subsystems.

The company’s strategy requires close relationships with both prime contractors and end users because of the complex technical nature of the products sold, combined with the export licencing controls on military products.

Currently the company exports to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada and Spain.

Overseas sales have grown by 200% over the last three years with an increase in UK employees and total sales and 84% of sales is exported.

They win the Queen’s Award for International Trade for outstanding growth in overseas sales over the last three years.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

The Queen’s Awards are a great way of celebrating the best of British business. Whether you’re a disruptive start-up making life easier for your customers or a large company with a blockbuster product, these awards recognise your contribution to enterprise.

We are a country full of exciting and innovative businesses that deserve to be celebrated. I’d like to commend all the winners for their hard work in creating jobs for people and driving our growing economy.