A Bradford company which started as a family business 60 years ago is hoping for big sales opportunities in America.

Lindapter International, which employs 75 people in the city, is hoping to break into the lucrative US markets in the next year.

The company manufactures a wide range of fixings used in the construction of objects ranging from bridges to conveyor belts.

Marketing manager Neil Tilsley said staff were preparing for expansion in the States. "A big growth market at the moment for us is the US where we are currently investing in sales people and marketing communications," he said. "We think there is an enormous amount of potential for us there."

About 60 per cent of Landapter's existing business comes from abroad and it already has subsidiaries in France and Germany.

The company - which has an annual turnover in the region of £10 million - specialises in designing and manufacturing specialist items for specific customers.

"We like to save our customers time and money by offering them clever and innovative ways to do what they have been doing for 20 years using more labour-intensive, time-consuming and expensive methods," said Mr Tilsley. "Consequently we are in rather a strange market as a specialist because with a lot of the products we offer we are unique and our main competition is traditional methods.

"Our business depends on the construction markets across the world so we have to bear that in mind.

"But we like to think we can grow by our own efforts despite market conditions, and we have the advantage of being in a specialist market."

The company, taken over six months ago by the US firm Tyco International, currently has a growth rate of 12 to 15 per cent.

"We have managed to achieve a healthy growth rate in the last five years and we would expect to continue that kind of growth in the future," said Mr Tilsley.

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