Firm's £18.5m deal with MoD

AUSTIN Hayes, the £4m turnover industrial coating contractor, has signed a long-term agreement with the Ministry of Defence worth £18.5m.

The Leeds-based company said the deal to supply refurbished munitions packaging components could be worth 40m over the next decade.

The components will be used by munitions manufacturers supplying British troops on operations around the world and help the MoD make savings of 20m a year.

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Nik Vjestica, owner and managing director, said: "This contract will provide a stable platform from which we can work with the MoD to develop ever-more cost-effective solutions for the taxpayer."

The deal builds on an existing relationship with the MoD. Mr Vjestica said his company will continue to work closely with the MoD's defence general munitions project team to provide an effective and efficient service.

He added: "With them we will share the responsibility in developing future strategies which will benefit the taxpayer by providing better value for money, benefit our environment by developing greener technologies and ultimately providing our serving troops with a better and improved product."

Royal Navy commander Peter Gilbert, who is responsible for acquisition of munitions packaging, said: "For the MoD, this partnering agreement has secured greater flexibility from industry in reaction to our increasingly dynamic operational requirements, and incentivised the development of innovative ideas that could make the total recovery process even more efficient.

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"For Austin Hayes, this partnering agreement provides a clearer insight into the MoD's requirements and enables a degree of more stable planning on a longer term basis.

"Such partnering demonstrates that, with innovative thinking and the right attitudes on both sides, contracting for sustainable products and services is achievable and brings genuine benefits."

The company was founded in 1953 by Ronald Austin Hayes. It started work on the repairing and making new ammunition packaging in the 1960s. Mr Vjestica joined the company as a graduate in 1980, working in every area of the business. He became MD in 1990 and bought the company from the Hayes family in 2001.

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