Blue Frog spawns new contracts with Abramovich and Charles
A RAPIDLY-growing Tyrone livestock bedding company is beginning to reap the rewards of supplying shavings for the equestrian accommodation and arenas at the London Olympics.
And among a number of new customers is Great Britain gold medal winner Peter Charles and Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club.
Boyd Bedding (Blue Frog), which specialises in producing and supplying sterilised wood shavings for the bedding of livestock, won the contract to provide all the shavings for the 2012 London games.
And while the contract itself didn’t provide the progressive Newtownstewart company with an immediate financial windfall the spin-offs have come to fruition over recent weeks.
Company director Raymond Boyd said the Olympics had been a tremendous marketing opportunity.
“The feedback from the organising committee has been very positive for us,” said Mr Boyd.
“We got a clean bill of health with regard to our product and the report was very favourable. Organisers were impressed with the logistics of actually getting the shavings there and in good time.
“Winning the contract was never about the money it was all about the marketing potential. Securing the contract ahead of 14 other major companies was a huge endorsement to begin with. It was about putting our product out there, the spin-offs have been excellent and it will hopefully open doors into new markets, in particular Europe.”
Mr Boyd said the Olympics had certainly raised the profile of the Blue Frog shavings brand and winning contracts to supply Peter Charles’s Heathcroft Farm and the Fyning Hill Estate in West Sussex of Chelsea owner Abramovich was another shot in the arm for the company. Boyd Bedding is currently in the midst of a huge expansion programme and the firm hopes to open new premises at Doogary, Omagh at the beginning of the year.
That will allow the company, a major supplier of shavings to the internationally renowned Moy Park poultry processor, to double its capacity to over 40,000 bales a week.
Boyd Bedding, who has sponsored Great Britain Olympic gold medal winner Nick Skelton for the past ten years, it seems, is bucking the trend in such austere times, and Mr Boyd is looking forward to continued growth.
“We anticipate that we will have secured further business in the new year,” he continued.
“After the Olympics we had a lot of enquiries from potential customers in France, Sweden, Italy and England and hopefully when we get the new factory up and going those will translate into new business.
“Getting involved in the Olympics was really good for us. It was hard work to win the contract ahead of 14 other major competitors but it’s certainly been good for business.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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