AESSEAL® was pleased to welcome the Business Secretary Vince Cable to its Rotherham headquarters today as part of the Business Secretary’s wider visit to the Yorkshire region.

The Business Secretary visited AESSEAL® who recently employed the 100,000th person to secure a job through the Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The RGF supports eligible projects and programmes that are also raising private sector investment to create economic growth and lasting employment. Over £1 billion is now with businesses and this has leveraged nearly £3 billion in private sector investment.

The visit to AESSEAL®, a world leading manufacturer of mechanical seals and support systems enabled the Business Secretary to meet graduate Luke Purshouse, 23. Luke joined the company at the beginning of December and is the 100,000th person to secure a job through the Regional Growth Fund (RGF).

Luke Purshouse, an Internal Technical Support Engineer who recently graduated from Birmingham University, said:

“Growing up in a mining family, in a mining area, means engineering is in my blood. I am excited by the opportunity to design products that make things better and ultimately are a benefit to society.”

AESSEAL® was awarded £1.7 million through the scheme to expand its UK manufacturing and R&D capabilities. This funding was supported with a commitment from AESSEAL® to invest a further £7 million from April 2013 to March 2017.

I am pleased that the Government’s economic regeneration programme, the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), has enabled a high-tech company like AESSEAL to invest further, creating skilled jobs and apprenticeships

To date over £5.5 million has been invested, with over £2 million being invested in developing the machining capabilities of AESSEAL®, over £1million in developing and expanding the Rotherham headquarters, and a further £2.5 million invested in research and development to underpin the aggressive growth plans of the organisation.  

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

“I am pleased that the Government’s economic regeneration programme, the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), has enabled a high-tech company like AESSEAL to invest further, creating skilled jobs and apprenticeships for South Yorkshire.

“This is testament to the success of the RGF scheme which from today has secured £4 billion in investment – this is a great achievement, with more still to come.”

AESSEAL® Managing Director Chris Rea said:

“The success of AESSEAL has been built on providing excellent service to our customers. The award from the RGF and our commitment to support this investment has enabled us to invest in new products, the most up to date manufacturing equipment and, most importantly, great people. These investments ensure we will continue to provide this service” 

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