China is next target for Wiltshire firm
9:35am Friday 7th September 2012 in Latest News
Wiltshire-based Dyson reported record annual turnover of over £1 billion, mainly as a result of bouyant sales in the US and Japan.
The turnover of company, which makes bagless vacuum cleaners, fans and hand dryers, was £1.05bn in 2011, up from £887 million in 2010.
And its earnings grew by 30 per cent in 2011 to £306.3m.
Dyson said it had seen "robust growth" in the US and Japan, and is set to start selling its products in China from November which it sees as a major market.
The firm has been steadily increasing the amount of products it sells outside the UK - last year it sold 85 per cent of its machines outside the UK, compared with 30 per cent in 2005.
Dyson says it is now the top selling upright vacuum cleaner brand in the US, with a near 27 per cent market share. The firm, which employs nearly 4,000 people worldwide, also said that it planned to increase spending on research and development by 20 per cent during the next five years.
Sales rose by a quarter in 2011, with some markets growing by 30 per cent.
In February the company said it was creating 300 skilled jobs, 200 of the new jobs being engineering positions with at least 150 going to graduates.
The group, founded by Sir James Dyson in 1992, employs 3,600 staff worldwide.
Dyson designs its products in Malmesbury but has moved much of its manufacturing to Malaysia.