Shropshire-based Corbetts the Galvanizers, one of the UK’s oldest hot-dip galvanising specialists, is embarking on a £300,000 investment drive as it celebrates its 160th anniversary (www.wcorbett.co.uk).

The company, which employs 105 people at its Telford facility, is planning a range of events to mark the milestone and is installing new flux and acid tanks that will free up capacity and speed up the galvanizing process.

It is also setting its sights on a 7% increase in volumes; if achieved, this will generate an extra £1 million of revenue for the firm.

Finance director Sophie Williams said: “It has certainly been a roller-coaster 12 months.

W“e have spent that time building a platform that would allow us to work through the economic issues we faced, while also pressing on with our desire to reinforce our position as one of the UK’s leading hot-dip galvanisers.

"In fact, when we actually look at the figures, we can see that we achieved our best-ever year for new sales, and a lot of this was down to our repositioning, a new brand and successfully passing our ISO 9001 quality accreditation.”

The company — originally founded by Samuel Corbett — opened its Wellington factory in 1860, and Shropshire has remained its home ever since.

Today’s facility on the Halesfield 1 industrial park (its base since 1999) has a new water recovery system in place, ‘state of the art’ kettles installed and a 13-strong fleet of vehicles to serve its customer base.

Since Canadian investment house Ardenton Capital acquired the business in 2017, the company has added over £1.2 million in sales and found new customers in the construction and automotive sectors.

Ms Williams said: “Our galvanising can be seen on street furniture, on vital IT infrastructure and on articulated lorry trailers carrying goods all over the UK.

“We even have a big say on the chassis that thousands of static caravans sit on.

"It is all about delivering the performance, yet still making sure that they look great.”