An expanding Leicester joinery company has invested nearly £100,000 in new machinery thanks to funding from Yorkshire Bank.
Managing director Martyn Aley set-up Aley Shopfitting in 2007 with finance director Adrian Tomlin to provide bespoke units for the cosmetic industry. Its clients include Estée Lauder, Clinique, Origins, Prada and Paco Rabanne in stores such as Harrods, Debenhams, Selfridges and House of Fraser.
After self-financing a move to new 10,500 sq ft premises in Chartwell Drive, Wigston, last November, Aley Shopfitting has bought two new high-tech machines with finance provided by Yorkshire Bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in Leicester.
The Altendorf F45 Panel Saw and Anderson Owen CNC machine will enable the business to meet increasing demand for their services.
Martyn said the reputation of the ten-strong company in a niche industry was growing year-on-year.
He said: “Yorkshire Bank has given the business a great deal of financial support and we wouldn’t have been able to buy these two machines without its help.
“The Anderson Owen CNC machine will cut any shape out of a sheet of MDF/ Plywood while the additional Altendorf F45 panel Saw will re-size sheet material to an accuracy of 0.1mm.
“These machines make our jobs much easier because the flow of work is much smoother. Going forward, we won’t have to carry out work by hand so we will be able to turn work around in shorter timescales.
“It usually takes two or three weeks to produce a cosmetics concession and we work with various types of sheet material, laminates, glass, acrylic and solid surfaces. We also do all the electrical work to illuminate and power the counters.”
As well as creating units in flagship department stores such as Harrods and Debenhams in Oxford Street in London, the company has also manufactured displays in terminals at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow Airports. It has also worked on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship and its travel retail business is expanding throughout the UK and Europe.
Angela Stone, relationship manager at Yorkshire Bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in New Walk, Leicester, said the calibre of Aley Shopfitting’s clients emphasised the high quality of the work they produced.
Angela said: “Aley Shopfitting looks set to enjoy a period of growth after investing in two state-of-the-art machines. This investment will enable the company to continue manufacturing bespoke cosmetic units for their high-profile customers.
“Yorkshire Bank’s backing emphasises our commitment to supporting companies through our Growing Business package.”
