Chepstow-based Reid Lifting (www.reidlifting.com) has been named as one of 20 firms awarded a funding and support package by Heathrow and the Department for International Trade’s ‘Exporting is Great’ campaign.

The package is designed to encourage these firms to export their goods or services to new international markets; it sees Heathrow providing £40,000 for SME trade missions or research into global markets of their choice.

Reid Lifting’s managing director, Nick Battersby, said: “Heathrow is a key hub for us, as we can connect to customers and exhibitions around the world and ship equipment required quickly for urgent projects.

"Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was also a source of inspiration for us in developing our Porta-gantry Rapide — a rapidly deployable gantry system for maintaining baggage-handling conveyors — and it helped us to win the Queen’s Award for Innovation & International Trade.

“We plan to use the World of Opportunity grant from Heathrow to make follow-up trips to Japan, where we feel there is great potential for our equipment.

“Having identified potential partners in the market, we feel the local culture requires investment in ‘getting to know each other’ before committing to what hopefully will be a strong business relationship.”

International Trade Minister Mark Garnier said: “The UK has some of the most innovative and ambitious small businesses, which have helped exports increase by 11.4% over the last year.

"It’s clear that the potential to export our goods and services is out there; as an international economic department, we will support businesses through partner schemes like this with Heathrow.”