Over £85 million of deals announced at UN General Assembly in New York

26 Sep 2019 02:18 PM

The Department for International Trade yesterday announced over £85 million worth of transatlantic export and investment deals.

Transatlantic export and investment deals expected to be worth over £85 million have been announced by the UK government as the UN General Assembly takes place in New York.

The UK government has announced a number of export wins to the United States from a range of British companies, all of which were achieved with support from the Department for International Trade, expected to be worth over £50 million.

Accompanying the Prime Minister in New York, the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss yesterday said:

It’s great to see UK SMEs selling their British-made products – from food and drink to tech – to the US.

British businesses have seen great success in the US, with exports reaching £100 billion last year.

Signing a comprehensive US-UK free trade agreement will ensure we see this figure grow and British small businesses are going to be the big winners.

Strengthening US-UK collaboration in healthcare, American and British gene therapy company MeiraGTx has invested over £35 million in the UK to build and operate a gene therapy manufacturing facility next to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. The company has created more than 70 highly specialised jobs, and expects to hire another 30 professionals over the coming months. This state-of-the-art facility is developing novel treatments for patients living with serious diseases.

Companies securing new export deals include:

• Yorkshire-based food maker Symingtons Ltd who have secured a deal expected to be worth more than £8 million over the next two years with American retail giant Walmart which will see their Naked Noodle brand sold in 3,000 stores across the states;
• Geollect, a geospatial technology start-up founded in 2017 by Cate Gwilliam, a former Geospatial Intelligence Officer with National Geospatial Agency in the US and Richard Gwilliam, a former Royal Navy Intelligence Officer, who has secured a deal with a US cruise line operator projected to be worth £5.5 million by the end of 2024;
• Southampton-based technology firm Clearvision who have secured two export wins for their software tools and applications to the US worth a combined £15 million;
• Leeds-based firm Booking Protect which secured a £6 million export win to the USA for their refund and ticket insurance technology;
• Feed Me Bottles based in Dartford, Kent, has secured a new deal in the United States which will see its Yoomi range, which includes a pioneering self-warming baby bottle, sold in Buy Buy Baby stores across the country as well as online via Macy’s department store and major US retailer Walmart. The deal is expected to be worth more than £1 million by 2025;
• Specialised wholesaler of Indian books Motilal Books from St Albans have secured a £2.5 million export win to the United States;
• UK tech firm Cognisess have secured an export win to the United States for their predictive HR technology which helps businesses identify, nurture and retain workforce talent. The company estimates this deal to be worth around £3.5 million over five years;
• London-based online fashion marketplace Love The Sales has expanded its business to the United States with support from the Department for International Trade. The company project the expansion will boost revenue by £9 million over five years.

One British producer, The Foraging Fox has signed agreements which will see their award-winning all-natural beetroot ketchup and flavoured mayonnaise stocked on American shelves in more than 1,000 stores. The company believes this could lead to tens of millions of pounds of sales within the next five years as they grow their reach in North America.

Total trade in goods and services between the UK and the US in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2019 was £199.5 billion, up 9.0% on the previous 12 months, with UK exports reaching £100 billion last year.