A BLACKBURN company that saw its turnover ‘explode’ after targeting global businesses on the internet has won another award.

Northern Industrial, which won last year’s export category at the Lancashire Telegraph’s Business Awards, has been handed the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce Export Award.

Managing director John Lenehan said: “We exported to 119 countries this year.

“We beat a lot of big companies to win this award and were presented with it at a lunch at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel.”

The company was founded in the late 1970s by Mr Lenehan, and supplies industrial automation repairs to local manufacturing firms.

It discovered a growing need for out-of-date automation required by small companies with old machines in every corner of the globe.

In the past year, it has grown its sales from £2 million to £3 million and has exported to places as varied as Antarctica and a gold mine in Paraguay.

It’s number of staff has expanded by 12 to around 43, and the company is looking to hire even more.

Sales director David Lenehan said: “We have taken on two bilingual staff and translated our website into German and Spanish, and we are half-way through translating it into French.

“We are also looking at getting an Italian speaker in.

“We are looking to expand by actively hiring more people and looking to increase exports by getting more bilingual staff and selling more on the web.”

In five years, turnover has trebled and profits have gone up even more as the company invested in a growing range of obsolete electronic automation parts no longer supported by the original manufacturer, a new website, and more staff.

David said: “Sometimes it reads like we are the international version of Steptoe and Son, but we have got skilled engineers and some of the companies we work with are Ford and Volvo, and we offer support for complicated, high-tech robots.

“To win the award is a nice pat on the back.”