London-based Quimera Energy Efficiency designs and delivers energy efficiency and smart building solutions for hotels around the world, and has secured a seven figure export contract in the US.

The firm will now see its systems installed in all three Marriott hotels operated by the MDM Hotel Group in Miami.

To help secure its partnership with MDM Hotel Group, Quimera Energy Efficiency worked closely with International Trade Advisers (ITAs) from the Department for International Trade (DIT) in London, who helped the business make key legal contacts and meet new commercial partners in the US.

In a bid to drive further US growth, Quimera Energy Efficiency is now working with government advisers at the British Consulate in Chicago to explore a new joint venture with Hyatt Hotels in the city.

The business is also in discussions with a further 30 hotels across the US market, which could deliver up to £6 million in revenue for Quimera Energy Efficiency between 2019 and 2022.

With growing overseas prospects, particularly in the US and China, the company expects to see its total revenue increase by 200% to more than £2.6 million over the coming year, reaching £35.4 million by 2024.

Quimera Energy Efficiency currently generates 70% of its turnover from overseas sales, with customers in 12 markets overseas, including Germany, the UAE, Oman, China, India and the Dominican Republic.

In addition to its UK-operation, Quimera Energy Efficiency has established wholly owned or controlled companies operating from Dubai and Shanghai. Over the next 6 months, the business aims establish a further 2 subsidiaries in Mumbai and Atlanta.

The business boasts the global energy efficiency sector’s first revenue model based entirely on the performance of its solutions, taking a share of the energy cost saved by its partners instead of charging up-front for its services.

John Chambers, Business Development Director, Quimera, said:

The US is home to some of the world’s largest hospitality brands, and we hope that this new US contract is the first of more to come.

We’ve been working with DIT since 2017, and its support in helping to source US legal and commercial partners was instrumental in making our deal with MDM happen.

Entering the United States seemed like a big step, especially considering the size of the market. DIT advisers were on hand to help develop our US operations, and have been on hand to offer advice on managing issues such as late payments from customers in other markets around the world.

Hospitality is a global industry, and our outlook has been global from the start. In addition to growing our business in the US, we’ll also be working with DIT to help build our operations in China, where $13 billion (£10.4 billion) of the $27 billion (£27.5 billion) global energy services market was spent last year.

The success of companies like ours shows that exporting isn’t just about goods, it’s services too, and I’d encourage anyone interested to make the most of the support available – the demand is out there.

We’re proud to be flying the flag for the UK overseas. With DIT’s support, Quimera Energy Efficiency is now the world leader in its field, with clients including the major hotel companies and their properties that we service around the globe.

Parveen Thornhill, Head of London Region, Department for International Trade said:

Quimera Energy Efficiency has been quick to recognise the opportunities for rapid growth overseas. When Quimera’s dedicated ITA Jim James first started working with the business, the US was identified as one of its priority markets for growth, and this deal is a major milestone.

The US market can be a daunting one to approach for many small businesses, due to its size, level of competition and its different regulations.

To help local firms tackle export hurdles such as these, we have a network of expert ITAs who can offer firms one-to-one guidance to help them conduct essential research, identify new partners and buyers, and navigate potential barriers such as regulations and tax.

I’m encouraging anyone interested in seeing what exporting can do for them to get in touch. If a company like Quimera can find success, there’s no reason many others can’t too.

Farmers who have managed to stay clear of bovine TB for at least six years will be able to revert to annual, rather than six-monthly, testing.

The Government has today (18 December) confirmed that farmers who have managed to stay clear of bovine TB for at least six years will be able to revert to annual, rather than six-monthly, testing.

This will reduce the testing burden on these lower-risk farms and incentivise other farms to take steps, to reduce their TB risks. The change will come into effect in May 2019 and will apply to farmers in parts of the bovine TB Edge Area.

The six-monthly testing also applies to farmers who have achieved Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) TB accreditation of their herds.

Farming Minister, Minister Eustice, said:

Bovine TB remains the greatest animal health threat to the UK, causing devastation and distress for hard-working farmers and rural communities.

By allowing these lower risk herds to revert to annual testing we want to encourage other farmers to take steps to reduce the risks of bovine TB.

From stringent biosecurity to the application of risk-based trading principles, farmers need to be doing everything they can to stop this disease spreading. As a Government we will also continue to robustly apply a range of interventions, including cattle movement controls, increased and better TB testing and licensed badger control in certain areas.

Defra and the Welsh Government have also today published a joint report with industry setting out recent progress and next steps on improving on-farm biosecurity – a key focus of the recent report by Sir Charles Godfray on the Government’s bTB strategy.

This report sets out a new programme of action designed to increase farmers’ resilience to bovine TB, including a £25,000 investment to improve the TB Hub website – the central hub for information on the disease.

New ways to stimulate retirement saving among Britain’s 4.8 million self-employed will be developed and tested under plans unveiled today (18 December 2018).

New approaches that would allow self-employed people, around 15 per cent of the UK workforce, to save for short, medium and long-term financial goals – for example, catering for those with irregular incomes – will be tested through trials and research to be launched imminently.

Automatic enrolment has transformed pension saving with almost 10 million people automatically enrolled since 2012. Now the government is embracing the challenge of encouraging the self-employed to put away money for later life.

Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, said:

Only around 1 in 7 (14 per cent) self-employed people were saving into a pension in 2016 to 2017. Our trials are designed to make sure that this diverse group of people gets help to plan ahead for greater financial security and the lifestyle they aspire to in later life.

We want to see effective, long-lasting solutions that boost the future prospects of millions of hard-working self-employed people, and will work with the financial services sector, professional trade bodies, unions and others to achieve that.

Features of the trials include:

• encouraging employees who become self-employed to keep making regular, affordable, contributions to a pension or other long-term savings product
• better use of financial technology to help the self-employed overcome barriers to saving
• making the most of communication points of contact used by self-employed people – such as online accounting systems – to promote saving for retirement in an easily understood way

A Department for Work and Pensions report published today confirms the continued success of automatic enrolment. New evidence shows that the rate of people stopping saving into a workplace pension for 2017 to 2018 was just 0.7 per cent, and this has not changed in the period April to June 2018 following the first increase in minimum contributions.

More information about the trials is available in Pensions and long-term savings trials for self-employed people.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 3267 5120

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