Brandon Medical receives second Queen’s Award

Brandon Medical has been awarded the most coveted accolade in British business – for the second time – in recognition of its stunning export fuelled growth. The Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson, presented the Queens’s Award for International Trade during a visit to Brandon Medical which designs, manufactures, installs and maintains vital medical equipment and systems for operating theatres and critical care units.

He said: “This is the highest award that any UK company can achieve which is recognised and much valued throughout the world.

“The Queen’s Award for International Trade recognises the international strategy that you have embarked on which has already shown very significant growth over the last three years.”

The milestone presentation marks the success of a strategic drive by the multi-award-winning Leeds company to develop new overseas markets, particularly in Asia-Pacific countries.

This has delivered a dramatic increase in exports – now accounting for over 50 per cent of sales – that is spearheading an ambitious growth strategy which aims to increase turnover from £6m to £21m by 2021.

Brandon Medical Executive Chairman Graeme Hall said: “We aim to remain strong in the UK market because this is where our knowledge base is, but exports are the future of the business and crucial to achieving our growth targets.

“We have built a strong export team and an expanding network of distributors and are developing new product ranges specifically for our export markets. It’s a strategy that is working and we are delighted that our success has been recognised with a Queen’s Award.”

Brandon Medical built its reputation as a developer of state-of-the-art operating theatre lights, but now has three other major product groups – theatre control and power systems, groundbreaking medical architectural and medical audio-visual systems.

The company, which previously scooped a Queens’s Award for Innovation in 2011, has not only diversified its produce range but has developed an extensive network of distributors to spearhead its export drive particularly in the major Asian Pacific markets.

Recent installations have included Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital in Vietnam, Kuala Krai Hospital in Malaysia, the Ipswich Hospital in Australia, and even a bespoke camel hospital for Sheikh Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai.

Three months ago the company appointed Keith Jackson as its Chief Executive to further drive Brandon Medical’s accelerated growth particularly in entering new overseas markets.

Graeme added: “I’m really proud of everyone in the business for winning not one, but two Queen’s Awards for innovation and for the outstanding success we have had internationally over the last three years.

“The two awards demonstrate that we are a company that can not only innovate but can develop, manufacture and sell products that customers want not just inn our home markets but all over the world.”