Actisense - Active Research Limited were delighted to host the visit of Ashley Fox MEP to its headquarters last Friday. Ashley was particularly impressed with the sales growth, plans for the future and work in the Production department. He later issued this statement:
GLOBAL BRITAIN SHOULD ENCOURAGE GLOBAL AMBITION
Earlier this month I visited Actisense in Dorset. Founded by CEO Phil Whitehurst in 1997 Actisense has expanded from their home in Poole into a global provider of sophisticated marine electronic equipment.
Actisense products are distributed to over 40 countries worldwide, including 22 of the 28 EU states, as well as China, India, South-East Asia and South America. In 2017, the company achieved a sizeable sales growth of 25% a rate they hope to exceed in 2018. 91% of their sales come from export markets.
I was particularly intrigued to hear how they have achieved this phenomenal growth rate. The company works on the belief that there will always be volatility somewhere in the world. So in order to minimise the risk of having all of their eggs in the one export basket they deliberately aim to spread their trade evenly across the globe—one third in Europe/North America, one third in Africa/South America and one third in the Far East/Australasia.
So far this diversified philosophy is working well.
As I travel the South West I often hear concerns regarding the potential impact of Brexit on our EU trade, but what is often forgotten is that most of the worlds future economic growth will come from outside the EU. After we have left the EU we obviously shouldn't ignore the cross channel trade but the Government should do all it can to encourage business to reach into these growing markets.
With that in mind it was great to visit a company that is already pursuing these global ambitions.
Contrary to the views of some global politicians I do not believe that having an inward looking and insular philosophy benefits anyone. Britain has always been a nation of traders and I hope that this proud tradition continues long into the future.