Trio of firms successful in first round of new scheme

Coast to Capital has handed a total of £128,000 to Goring’s GB Electronics, Lancing’s BCMY and Young Calibration from Shoreham, as part of its growth grant scheme.

The companies were just one of seven across Sussex awarded funds in the first round of grants.

Coast to Capital chief executive Ron Crank said: “

“Each of these businesses has demonstrated innovative new plans for growth involving research and development, capital projects and expansion into further markets.

“SMEs are the backbone of our economy and I am encouraging more companies to take advantage of these grants so they may achieve their full potential.”

GB Electronics received £33,000 from the scheme, which will go towards developing a new healthcare product.

The grant forms a significant chunk of the £140,000 total estimated cost of the development, for which managing director Mark Bullen said was gratefully received.

He said: “We are very happy. We are launching a new healthcare product, so this grant is going to help us accelerate its development.

“It is quite an exciting opportunity for us to expand into emerging markets.”

Mr Bullen hopes the development will lead to the firm hiring three new members of staff.

He added: “Funding is hard to come by and is also quite rare and is often very specialised.

“The grant scheme is a great opportunity and I have been really impressed with it.”

Young Calibration, which received £46,000, provides calibration services and thermal fluid component testing to customers worldwide from its base in Shoreham.

The grant will go towards expanding their calibration laboratory.

The third successful firm was Lancing’s BCMY, which was awarded £49,000 towards creating a new facility to dispose of cartridge waste.

The Business Growth Grants Programme is a £4.79m fund run by Coast to Capital, Brighton and Hove City Council and its partners to provide non-repayable grants to small and medium sized businesses that have expansion plans.

Grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 are available for a wide range of items, including research and development, innovation and product/service development, breaking into new markets, skills development, plant and equipment, business premises and other capital items.

The successful applicants needed to demonstrate how their plans will lead to job creation in their area and that other sources of funding had been pursued without success.

For more about applying for a Business Growth Grant and the required eligibility, email [email protected]