A MEDICAL equipment manufacturer whose products are increasingly being exported - including to the Arctic Circle and Antarctica - has opened a purpose-built £1.5 million technical and distribution centre in Baildon.

The new Anetic Aid premises, which were officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Joanne Dodds, mark a new era for the firm which exports around 25 per cent of its products, which are made near Portsmouth.

Anetic Aid is the first company to start operations at the Sapper Jordan Rossi Business Park at the controversial Buck Lane development.

It specialises in equipment such as state-of-the art trolleys for day surgery use. In addition to NHS and UK private hospitals, the firm sells into markets including Germany, Canada, the United States, South America and the Middle East. It also supplied the British army base at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

Employing nearly 30 people in Baildon and around 25 in the south, the company has been supplying operating theatre equipment for nearly 40 years and said the move to its new base after selling its former Guiseley site for development reflects its steady growth.

The new premises will enable the £12 million turnover firm to keep many of its British designed and made product lines in stock for rapid delivery across the UK and overseas.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council's executive member for employment, skills and culture, said: ‘It's good to see companies flourishing and bringing more jobs to the area and hopefully it will encourage more firms come and see what the site has to offer.’

Andrew Russell from Pendle Russells, the developer behind the new £15 million business park, said:"Anetic Aid is exactly the type of business that the Baildon Business Park was developed to support and it’s great to see the team operating from this state-of-the-art new facility at last."

Andrew Curtin, Anetic Aid’s sales director, added : ‘We were delighted to welcome the Lord Mayor and all of our guests to join us in marking this latest milestone for our company. We’ve come a long way since opening our doors first in a shop front followed by a tiny converted chapel on Wells Road in Guiseley.

‘Today, our products can be found in practically every hospital in the UK, and we are increasingly exporting across the world. This move to new premises in Baildon will enable us to grow the business even further and we are very excited about the future.’

Anetic Aid was founded in Portsmouth in 1977 by the late Ivor Schofield,whose son Guy is chief executive, and the late Tom Brady, a West Yorkshire-based sales specialist .