'˜Use your natural advantage for export openings'

David Wadsworth, chief executive of John King Chains, says commonality between the UK and Commonwealth gives British companies a “natural advantage”.

Speaking about his own firm, Mr Wadsworth told The Yorkshire Post: “We do really well in the Commonwealth actually. In the former colonies in Africa, the US and Canada. After Brexit there’s a very natural advantage for UK companies to work in the Commonwealth.

“There’s a lot of commonality in terms of how we operate and language. A lot of the types of products that they use have a British origin. Naturally, we’ve always worked in that part of the world.”

John King Chains is a family-run business based in Sherburn in Elmet. The company manufactures industrial chains.

The firm employs 65 people in Yorkshire, which is its manufacturing centre. It has a total of 100 employees across the group with operations dotted worldwide.

Recently, the business secured a major contract with the Iraqi government to re-chain conveyors for the Iraqi Grain Board.

Mr Wadsworth said: “We’ve been around for a long time so we’re a well-known brand.

“Basically, the government-owned Iraqi Grain Board operate various storage silos around the country and periodically they re-chain all the conveyors.

“The type of product that they use is exactly what we manufacture. We’ve been looking at this opportunity for quite a period of time.”

The business was chosen for the contract, which is worth in excess of £1m.

Over half of John King’s sales are now exports, says Mr Wadsworth. The company came to the realisation that exporting was the key to success 25 years ago. Mr Wadsworth said: “John King has always exported but about 25 years ago it was very clear to me that the smoking chimneys were disappearing. We used to do a lot of work with the coal mining industry. We had to look at exports. That’s where we have concentrated and well over half our sales are in export.”

John King Chains has operations in Chile, Poland, North America and South Africa. The company is also looking to expand into Australia.

Mr Wadsworth said: “We’re in the process of setting something up in Australia. That’s something which will be launched in April at the start of our financial year. It’s a continuation of this focus on the Commonwealth I suppose.”

The business has a strong presence in Central America, where there is a great demand from the cane sugar industry for its products. Far East Asia is another area where John King Chains is doing well – thanks to demand driven by cement handling. Despite the proximity of China more discerning customers prefer British quality, Mr Wadsworth said.

Quality counts for UK goods

There is “absolutely no doubt” that there is a demand for high quality British goods across the world, according to David Wadsworth.

Mr Wadsworth said: “When you travel the world, and I probably spend four or five months of the year travelling, you draw great satisfaction from the fact that there is still a high value placed on British engineering.”

Brexit has created uncertainty but Mr Wadsworth believes UK plc is resilient enough to come out of it stronger.

John King Chains was established in 1926.