A firm in County Durham that manufactures road marking materials is steering its way into Europe's export markets with the aid of a range of assistance available from UK Trade & Investment.

Shildon Thermoplastics has scooped a £50,000 order from Romania, has exhibited at a trade fair in the Netherlands and has received positive inquiries from Albania, Poland, Slovenia and Spain.

Mark Coupe, Director of Shildon Thermoplastics, said: "The UK market for our road marking materials has been declining and there has been more competition from abroad, so we realised we needed to expand into new markets overseas.

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"We had virtually no experience, but with the help of Geoff Young, an International Trade Adviser with UK Trade & Investment, we were able to use its Market Selection Service Research scheme to look for promising markets. We started by looking at the countries that have recently joined in the European Union (EU) on the basis that they would have EU funding to improve infrastructure and roads. Based on feedback, we eventually settled on Romania as a target."

The family run business group, owned by Jack Coupe, employs over 60 people throughout out the North East. The road marking divisions of the Coupe Group consists of three sister companies - Coupe Line, one of the premier road marking contractors in the North, H2-GO, a specialist in environmentally friendly marking removal using high pressured waterblasting and Shildon Thermoplastics.

(CD/JM)