The 22-year-old company distributes products for Japanese manufacturer Lintec Corporation, which boasts a global turnover of $2bn (£1.5bn). Exports outside of Japan account for around 40% of the parent company’s turnover, according to Lintec Europe UK managing director Andy Voss, and the plan is now to grow European sales.
“We have expanded into new markets such as label stocks, window films, tapes and papers, and so the brand name did not reflect what we wanted to do anymore,” said Voss. “We are planning to take on more people going forward to fulfil our new, more international aims.
“Specific markets where our products do particularly well are due extra focus, such as Germany and Scandinavia. We aim to put more money and manpower into our manufacturing and R&D tailored to these areas we are targeting.
“Between ourselves and the parent company in Japan there is a comprehensive plan to expand further into Europe now. While we can’t give any exact targets, our turnover has been increasing positively in recent years and our view is that this will continue.”
Parent Lintec employs around 5,500 staff globally and has bases in 15 countries. The European operation is headquartered in the Netherlands, with offices in the UK, and employs 35 staff. Voss said that the European wing would be taking people on “everywhere from marketing to the factory floor” in the near future.
Going forward, Voss said the company was looking to “move into relatively conservative markets that take time to get into”. He explained there were plans in place to expand the company’s product portfolio in order to do so.
“It is definitely exciting,” he said. “We are one of the few companies looking to develop R&D in this market. We are always looking to move the market on and stay ahead.”
Voss is currently at LabelExpo in Brussels with Lintec Europe, where he said he feels “very positive” about their prospects with a 450sqm stall at the front of the exhibition.
When still under the name Lintec Graphic Films, the High Wycombe-based company was completely acquired by its parent company for an undisclosed sum in November last year.
