Shelton Sportsturf Drainage win Exporter of the Year Award

We are pleased to annonce that we have won the '2017 Exporter of the Year' in the East Lindsey Business Awards after reporting export growth of over 65% in the past year. We design, manufacture and sell machinery specifically for the drainage of sports pitches, turf playing surfaces and agricultural land and have over 15 specialist drainage machinery products in the range, all built in the UK and we have nearly 60 years of combined experience in the drainage industry. 

Director Richard Clark said: "We export our machinery to 20 different countries; we have overseas dealers in USA, Australia, Germany, Denmark and Sweden which are our main markets, followed by Ireland, Belgium and France. Export sales now represent 35% of our total business with growth having largely been driven by the launch of the CT150 Agricultural Chain Trencher after we were awarded a Rural Development Fund from East Lindsey District Council enabling us to progress its development. The grant was key to the success of the project as it enabled us to use computer aided design to develop the production of the CT150 and to invest in the marketing of the product in a new market. Export sales growth has also been attributed to our ability to manufacture bespoke machinery; we can modify our machines to suit the different working conditions of our clients, i.e. in Denmark their high silt content soil can cause problems with fines entering the drainage pipes and causing a build up, leading to blockages preventing the drainage from working efficiently. We engineered our Supertrencher+760 to suit this market by adding on a reel to lay geotextile material at the bottom of the trench underneath the pipework, preventing the small fines from entering it, thereby improving the efficiency and longevity of the drainage system being installed.

We have had a positive start to 2017 with machines being exported to Hungary which is a completely new market for us and we are committed to growing our export business, so it's great to be recognised by ELBA with this award.