PRESS RELEASE

30 November 2009

START-UP NEWPORT COMPANY CLINCHES TOP UK BUSINESS AWARDS

A high tech Newport company, which only started trading in 2007, has picked up two prestigious UK business awards.

Abriox Ltd, based in Imperial Park, won the British Chambers of Commerce’s Most Promising Start-up Business Award, sponsored by BT, and the Achievement in International Trade Award for the company’s innovative fuel pipeline monitoring equipment.

The company took two years to develop its own unique ‘Merlin’ system, which monitors levels of protection from corrosion on buried metal pipelines – automating a procedure that used to have to be done manually in the field.

Merlin is now used in the UK by gas distribution companies like National Grid and Wales & West Utilities as well as by petrol firms, including Esso, BPA and Fina. The system has also been taken up widely in the United States and the Middle East by crude oil firms.

Graham Morgan, Director of the South Wales Chamber, said: “This is an innovative small company, and although it’s only been going for a couple of years has already shown its big ambitions both in the UK and internationally.

“In just two years of trading the company already has every major UK gas distribution company as its customer. The fact that it won two awards speaks for itself.”

Abriox founders spent two years developing their unique product, funded by development grants from WAG’s SMARTCymru R & D programme, before they took it to market in 2007.

Since then the business, which still only has eight employees, has improved profitability year-on-year and this year had an order book with more than £1.5m worth of deliveries, with a five-year objective to achieve a turnover of between £10m and £15m.


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