Rocester based JCB
has just landed a major £23 million contract in Russia from engineering
firm MOCT. The contract involves supplying the plant equipment that
will transport infrastructure to the 2014 Winter Olympics. The
news is a welcome change for the firm who have been mired in bad news
and staff cuts recently. Almost 600 jobs have been lost at JCB and some
workers have voted to adopt a four day working week in order to avoid
further redundancies. The
credit crunch is hitting the construction industry hard, and JCB noted
a 55% fall in sales shortly after the credit crunch hit. Tim Burnhope,
managing director of JCB Sales, said the order came after the firm set
up a base in Lonmadi and a parts centre in Moscow.
Mr Burnhope went on to say "We are delighted that the investment in premises and staff has paid off so quickly. MOCT
is one of the largest civil engineering contractors in Russia. This
substantial order is a further endorsement of JCB products and the
service and support offered by our dealer in Lonmadi. The
new depot is part of a continuing expansion programme for the JCB
dealer network, which now has more than 70 sales and services branches
throughout Russia."
MOCT
has ordered generators, backhoe loaders, excavators and loading shovels
from JCB. It is understood that the first time the equipment will be
used will be in preparation for the 2012 Asia Pacific Economic
Co-operation Summit in Vladivostok.
Speaking
from
Moscow, Lord Mandelson said "We can move markets as well as earth
if we keep the business relations right between Russia and the UK.
Russia wants British goods and investment and Britain likewise welcomes
Russian investment in our country."
Helen
Foxley, director of UK Trade And Investment's office on Festival Park,
Etruria, said "It is great for JCB that it has won this contract and
it goes to show that there are construction projects around if you go
out and find them. UK
businesses in the construction sector should be looking at overseas
markets because there are less things being built at the moment." | 
