Company Sets Its Course for Far East

A Company that has been part of the North East’s shipping industry since 1884 is looking to the Far East as it opens another chapter in its impressive history.

North Shields firm Lilley & Gillie, which makes navigational equipment like nautical instruments telescopes, compass etc. for ships, has just completed one of the most lucrative orders in its history with the sale of £100,000-worth of wind speed and directional indicator equipment.

The contract with Chinese firm Via Marine Co follows a series of deals in the Far East, with the region now accounting for 95% of sales at Lilley & Gillie.

The company now aims to increase its turnover from £6m to £7m next year as a result of its involvement with countries including Japan and Malaysia as well as through improvements to its wind technology and magnetic speed logs.

Managing director Glenn Heathcote said: “Our successful relationship with Via Marine is a significant step forward in the development of our name and product range in the Chinese market. The Far East is having its own industrial revolution and is replacing traditional areas, including the UK, as the new shipping hub.”

The company has seen many changes since John Wilson Gillie founded it, then known as Wilson and Gillie. The firm went through many name changes at the beginning of the 20th Century after merging with a series of nautical instrument firms that had been badly affected by the growing popularity of rail travel. As John Lilley and Gillie, the firm began forging strong links with European manufacturers, such as Observator in Rotterdam and by 1975 began entering the field of marine electronics.

This progression was helped by the acquisition of Birmingham’s Thomas Walker & Son in 2002, which makes military grade instrumentation systems and has seen the firm supply a number of products to the Government.

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Mr Heathcote said: “We have gone through a number of monumental changes throughout our history and believe that, through our links in the Far East, we can continue to grow into the future.”