The London Distillery Company Ltd
The £3m project focused on:
• Enhancing sustainable growth, competitiveness and productivity of new and established businesses in London,
• Strengthening the competitiveness of existing enterprises and creating more and better jobs through international trade opportunities.
It provided training, advice and support to companies to help them develop and implement international market-entry strategies and support their overseas market visits. It promoted London’s businesses to international buyers and engaged the diverse London business base enabling more high value-adding SMEs to benefit from international trade support.
Achieved targets: 265 SMEs supported, 208 jobs created, £16,194,627 new sales generated
How ERDF has helped an SME
"Our work with both the ERDF and UKTI teams was aimed to help us understand exporting to new markets internationally. They also supported us where possible in-market.
As an SME with limited resources we were delighted when our International Trade Adviser, Lucy Randolph, and her team were able to invite us to join the FHC International Exhibition in mainland China in November 2013. Critical for us at that time was the ERDF support available to be able to exhibit at the London ERDF group stand. This made the trip possible for us as small business.
On arriving in China, Lucy and the team worked together to help us understand the market place and distribution. As a result of the trip we purchased a Shanghai based importer, Gotham East, with another business and launched Dodd’s Gin into China in Spring 2014. This has enabled us to control our distribution in a complex market place and support like-minded brands. This was beyond our expectations in terms of scope and the speed with which we accomplished our goal to export to Asia. Currently, we hold 10% equity in Gotham which is now valued at $2.5m but they are looking to raise more investment in 2016 with an indicated valuation of $10m. In the next 5 years we are expecting to see Dodd's Gin sales grow to be worth c. £500k annually.
What we appreciated most about working with Lucy and the ERDF/UKTI teams was their ability to connect each company with relevant people in market, keep everyone happy, and deliver the expected results and more.”
Darren Rook, CEO, The London Distillery Company Ltd.