Rochdale sign company goes against the credit crunch

Photo: Matthew Simms

The Rochdale Premier Signs team: (L-R) Mark Egerton, Sharon Pickering, John Hough, Scott Mayland, Ralf Pickering and Ash Wildman.

It is a tough time for the economy; banks are collapsing, unemployment is rising and the Credit Crunch is hitting business hard.

But amid these troubled economic times one business from Rochdale is bucking the trend.
Premier Signs UK celebrates its first anniversary today and while other businesses may be facing a gloomy outlook, things at Premier Signs are looking brighter.

The company can make a sign for just about anything and business is booming.

In just a year of operation the company has doubled their projective turnover, opened a new office in Huddersfield and tripled the number of employees – albeit they only started with two.

The business is headed by John Hough who is originally from Oldham but now calls himself an ‘adopted Rochdalian’.

The 32-year-old is joined in a business triumvirate by Sharon Pickering, 38, who runs the sales and marketing side of the business and Operations Manager Mark Egerton, 32, who has 15 years of experience in the signage industry.

Mr Hough says the three of them are a ‘real good mix’ and together he reckons they make a perfect management team.

He told Rochdale Online he is happy the way the company’s first year has gone.

“There have been a few ups and downs but in general it has been a really good 12 months since we started the company, overall I am really pleased,” he said.

But the trio won’t be celebrating Premier Sign UK’s anniversary for long. They have got big plans for the business in its second year.

“We are hoping to exceed our targets in 2009, get some more employees and get bigger and stronger,” Mr Hough said.

Although they have concentrated their efforts locally for the first 12 months, the management trio are hoping to use their new Huddersfield office as a base to move into Yorkshire and build their clientele in the east of the country.

It has been a rapid rise for a company that started life at Fieldhouse Industrial Units on Whitworth Road. Due to their expansion and a lack of space at Fieldhouse, they were forced to move to their current home at the Caldershaw Business Centre on Ings Lane in July.

The business has mainly been built up through work in the local area and Rochdale residents are bound to have seen some of their work around town.

Prominent local businesses such as Barton and Kendal, Morris Dean, Astra Alarms, Town Taxis, Bioflow UK and Hollingworth High have worked with Premier Signs UK.

And despite concentrating their efforts on work in and around Rochdale they have done a smattering of work outside Greater Manchester.

In fact their biggest job to date was creating a massive sign for Pilkingtons Tiles which greets people as they fly into Dublin Airport.

Even though it has been a successful year and 2009 looks even brighter, Mr Hough is keeping the company’s feet firmly on the ground.

“We have a five year plan and after that time we will re-asses the business,” he said.

“We have got to be realistic, I am not going to look too far into the future and say we will be multi-millionaires in 15 or 20 years.”

And Ms Pickering added: “You switch on the TV and all you see is doom and gloom.

“But it is important to show people that you can still run a successful business, especially in Rochdale,” she said.

“The town has a lot going on and is a great place to do business.”