Buyout ensures positions are safe

Five directors of JCC Lighting have backed their faith in the company with cash to ensure it stays in its home town.

They have spent an undisclosed sum '“ backed by a leading bank with an investment put at 'less than 10m' '“ to enable JCC to carry on producing some of the best lights in the country.

The deal was completed last week amid the turmoil of the financial markets and the credit crunch sparked by the Northern Rock crisis and mortgage defaults in America.

But JCC's managing director, Dave Dawkins, said it had been worthwhile to brave the difficult conditions.

"This is not the time to be buying a company but we wanted to safeguard the company and its jobs. We have got some brilliant people in this company and our employees are our lifeblood.

"This buyout is good news for the company and good news for Bognor," he pledged.

"We are committed to staying in Bognor. There was some interest from trade buyers in buying the business. There's always uncertainty when that happens and the staff were very concerned."

The company was founded in 1989 by Dennis and Jacqui Callander. Mr Callander stepped down as the chairman when the management buyout was completed.

The firm has steadily grown into a market-leading global lighting fixtures business.

It designs, sources, imports, stocks and wholesales a large range of commercial and domestic lighting.

One of its customers is Tesco, for which it supplies spotlights to pick out specific products for shoppers.

JCC manufactures more than 170 different types of lighting products which equal 3,000-plus items when colour and voltage combinations are taken into account.

The expected sales total in the current year to April is 33.1m to give a 16 per cent increase on the previous annual period. This amount of 28.5m was itself 12pc up on 2006.

JCC's head office is on Beeding Close on the Southern Cross Industrial Estate. The premises also contain one of its three UK showroom and distribution centres. The others are at Droitwich in the West Midlands '“ the site of the firm's 60,000sq ft factory '“ and in Belfast.

Overseas offices are based in Dubai, Hong Kong and China. In all, JCC employs some 200 staff. Further expansion into the Middle East and Australia is planned for this year.

Mr Dawkins moved to JCC 20 months ago with the intention of overseeing its sale.

He comes from the West Midlands which led to rumours the region was about to become JCC's home.

But he is about to move to the Bognor area later this month to demonstrate his commitment to the town.

He stated: "We have a highly-motivated team, a strong board, sound financial backing and the determination to continue the successful development of this business.

"This is a watershed in JCC's history and I am looking forward to the tasks ahead."

Lloyds TSB's development capital section has invested 'less than 10m' in JCC for a majority stake in the business to fund the buyout.

Peter Brooks, the section's senior director, added: "JCC is a global leader in a rapidly- growing marketplace.

"JCC has strong opportunities to grow rapidly, both by expanding its reach into new areas of the UK and by developing sales channels beyond the UK market."