Tait plans Vienna office in drive for new markets

Leading Christchurch electronics firm Tait Radio Communications will set up a nine-person sales office in the Austrian capital of Vienna to help its push into the eastern European and Middle Eastern markets.

Chief marketing officer, James Kyd, said the move was "all about growth".

The supplier of digital radio communications gear, with nearly $200 million in sales last year, said its strategy was to get closer to customers and potential growth markets in central and eastern Europe and the Middle East. "We are starting to have success," he said.

"We think that opportunity just gets stronger so we took a decision to open an office close to that market."

It had leased space in an industrial hub in Vienna and intended to open about November.

Tait's three key target markets are public safety organisations, such as the police, ambulance and fire services, city transport organisations such as bus and rail operators, and utilities such as energy companies.

"We see growth in spend in these areas in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Clearly we are seeing those economies grow, become more sophisticated. So they are looking for better public-safety infrastructure, more stable utilities infrastructure and better urban transport and, of course, our radio network becomes an ingredient for their success."

Three staff were shifting from its Huntingdon office, near the IT hub of Cambridge in Britain, and Tait would be hiring six other staff. More Huntingdon staff would be offered the chance to shift there if they wanted. Tait had about 60 staff in Europe.

Kyd said Tait already had customers in eastern Europe and Russia, such as the Polish rail network and Plzen Bus.

An office in Vienna made the company accessible and enabled understanding of its customers' environment.

Its customers valued the expertise Tait brought, Kyd said.

"Being closer to them and more accessible quickly does make a difference."

The new office would be Tait's seventh outside New Zealand.

- © Fairfax NZ News