Chepstow-based Reid Lifting, a designer and manufacturer of lightweight portable lifting equipment, expects to achieve record-breaking export sales in 2019.

The company, which counts the Vatican, Rolls-Royce, the Paris Metro and Mercedes among its customers, was founded in 1996 by Jim Reid; it originally specialised in providing solutions to the water and waste-water industries, after he saw a gap in the market for safer and more-modern designs to replace traditional (and dated) lifting equipment (www.reidlifting.com).

Following its initial success, Reid Lifting has since expanded into a range of industries, supplying its innovative davit and gantry systems to sectors including oil and gas, automotive, waste processing and even museum preservation.

Its products now have a number of regular applications, including installing escalators, rope access work on high-rise buildings, and manoeuvring heavy oil pumps.

Reid Lifting currently has seven global distributors and another 30 resellers in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Australia and North America.

Exports account for over 55% of the company’s trade, and they have increased significantly over the last two years, amounting to more than £3.6 million of its turnover in the last year alone.

Reid Lifting aims to double this figure by 2024, by increasing its presence in the USA and expanding into South East Asian markets.

The company’s export success has also led to an increase in its workforce, which has more than doubled — from 21 to 50 — in the last five years.