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Business booming for specialist cables firm

8:00am Friday 30th July 2010


MANUFACTURING specialist cables for the oil industry provides a resilient business according to John Kewley, managing director of Concept Cables in Blandford.

His cables, produced from bare wire, are often attached to robots and are used by oil companies to explore for oil.

They are capable of operating in depths of up to 13km.

“They need to be in continuous length for oil exploration – we can make them up to 5km,” said Mr Kewley.

He added that some of his 348 customers are engaged in resolving the BP oil crisis in America.

He says that if the currently “buoyant” industry is negatively affected by BP’s troubles “oil companies will spend more on surviving and doing exploration”, boosting profits at Concept Cables.

The company’s cables, which take between four and six weeks to produce, also “need to be flexible for power and data”.

Concept, which is based at Blandford Heights Industrial Estate, works across a diverse range of industries incorporating medical, motor sport and wind farm projects.

Customers include Atlas Electronics at Winfrith and Thales Aerospace in France.

Concept is experiencing “a lot of growth in high-end audio cables” and works with Naim in Salisbury.

It also produces a range of “antique” cables for lighting, “which is a very profitable niche business”.

This diversity has helped the company grow by 20 per cent every year since it was established eight years ago.

Last year, Concept Cables bought two adjacent units and is now investing £500,000 in extending its 15,000sq ft premises by a further 7,000sq ft to increase production.

The company has awarded the contract to Greenridge Construction in Poole.

And in the next 12 months the company, which currently employs 17, hopes to increase shop floor staff by two to three.

Concept Cables generates a £300,000 profit from a £1.5m turnover.


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