7 February 2003 -- Fibercore Limited, Southampton, UK, is starting celebrations for its 21st birthday year in a new home. The company has just moved into its new fibre research and manufacturing facility, on which it has spent around EUR7m - and three years in planning and construction.
The purpose-built premises are close to its previous UK base on Southampton's Chilworth Science Park. Over the past three years, Fibercore Ltd has reported a 30% fall in turnover since the height of the market in 2000, in a climate where 75 � 90 percent is an accepted norm, the company claims. It has funded the new HQ from retained earnings.
The company says its strong position is the result of growth in demand for its specialty optical fibres in alternative markets, such as research, sensing, and fibre gyros, which have countered the fall off in telecoms.
The new facility will enable the company to boost capacity ten-fold in coming years � to meet a "resurgence in telecommunications demand".
In the last quarter of 2002, uptake of fibres in the Asian market grew by around 1000 percent, says managing director Chris Emslie, with significant growth in the Japanese fibre gyro market and Chinese telecoms and datacoms sectors.
Growth in Asia has been reinforced by existing clients in Europe and the United States, including medical company Intraluminal Therapeutics and Scientific Atlanta.
Emslie says, "I am delighted that we are celebrating our 21st successful year at the forefront of photonics with the opening of a new R&D and production facility. It is testament to our financial stability that we can finance the project from retained earnings, and proves we are still first in specialty fibre."