2009-12-16 15:46:24 -

H20 Car Valeting Centres the leading UK car valeting company has confirmed it is looking to expand its operations across the Black Country and West Midlands after the success of its operation at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Dudley and its four Birmingham sites at the Mailbox, Selfridges, Bull Ring and Touchwood shopping centre. The company has confirmed that it is actively looking at sites in Wolverhampton, Telford, Stourbridge, Walsall, Stafford and Sutton Coldfield as part of an agressive two year expansion plan.

The announcement comes as the Birmingham based company recently launched its flagship valet centre at the prestigious £1.7 Billion Westfield London shopping centre in West London. The London operation is part of a £5m expansion plan which

will be rolled out over the next two years with the launch of a further twenty H20 Car Valeting centres across the UK and creating one hundred and fifty full time jobs at the same time.

H20 Car Valeting Centres has also been praised and congratulated on its London launch and success by LORD MANDELSON’S Department For Business Innovation & Skills. Duncan Buchanan, Private Secretary on behalf of Lord Mandelson said, “We are delighted that H20 Car Valeting Centres has been able to expand its business using the Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme. I hope that H20 Car Valeting Centres continues to be a success.”


H20 Car Valeting Centres expansion plans are a welcome boost to the current economic climate across the West Midlands, the car industry and its associated service companies, further demonstrating that confidence is slowly returning to the consumer marketplace.

H20 Car Valeting Centres which is based in Birmingham, currently has seven centres across the UK, which are all based within existing car parking infastructures at prestigious shopping developments. The company’s operations are currently sited at the prestigious Mailbox, Bull Ring and Selfridges shopping centre car parks. The company also has three sites outside of Birmingham at the Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull, the Westfield Merry Hill shopping centre in Dudley, the Westfield Derby shopping centre in Derby and now Westfield London.

Westfield London which opened last year, is Europe’s largest urban shopping centre which cost a staggering £1.7 billion to build and occupies 1.6million sq ft, the size of twenty premiership football pitches. It currently houses nearly 50 restaurants and in excess of three hundred stores with premium retailers such as De Beers, Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Gucci and Prada. It currently employs 7000 people to serve the 23 million shoppers who have visited the centre in its first year.

Colin Thomas MD of H20 Car Valeting Centres said; "The Black Country and the West Midlands are an important and integral part of our two year £5m expansion plan. We currently have three operations in Birmingham city centre along with units at Touchwood, Solihull and the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. The West Midlands provides us with a perfect location for us to expand our operations with a large catchment area for new customers, the recruitment of key local staff as well a variety of key site locations."


H20 is the brainchild of Belfast born entrepreneur Colin Thomas, whose family business Autokleen were responsible for valeting many of the premium brand motor manufacturers new model ranges at various motor show launches around the world, working with such prestigious marques as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls Royce & Bentley, Aston Martin, Mercedes and BMW. Established in 2003, H20 has been built upon 25 years of valeting expertise for all of the major car manufacturers. Based in Birmingham, the company has rapidly established itself as one of the premier companies in its field setting superior standards of quality and excellence. H20 Car Valeting provides a high quality car valet service and finish to showroom standard and has a wide range of customers from business people, to premiership footballers, celebrities, executives and housewives.

Colin Thomas added; "There is no denying that the recession has affected everyone, however from our experience, footfall and turnover is up at all of our centres throughout the West Midlands. People seem to be keeping their cars longer and are investing in a regular car valet to keep their cars in top condition. Next to a house, a car is the second largest single investment for most people and we have noticed a sea change in people’s attitudes towards their cars. We have also noticed an upturn in cars being valeted prior to selling to get the best possible price for their vehicles. I also think our success has been down to the fact that we are also a convenience service for a lot of people who have busy lifestyles. We make the process simple for them, they drop their cars off and then go shopping for a couple of hours and return to a valeted car in showroom condition at a reasonable cost."


Colin Thomas also confirmed that the West Midlands sites will be part of the twenty sites the firm hopes to launch across the UK over the next two years with a £5 million pound investment plan. The company’s expansion plans have been helped in part by private investment and also help from the small business loan guarantee scheme launched by the Government. The company will also be seeking further funding under the new Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme, where the Government guarantees lending to viable businesses to ensure that they can get the working capital and investment that they need.

“The Government’s intervention with the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme to grass roots businesses like ourselves and others across the West Midlands has been absolutely crucial to our continued expansion as a business. With this level of support it has allowed us to develop the next stage of our business plan, without it the business would not be able to flourish and grow due to the restrictive lending practices of the High Street banks at present.” said Colin Thomas, who fully backs and supports the Government’s initiative.

ENDS


Notes To Editors


Colin Thomas, Managing Director for H20 Car Valeting Centres, is available for interview upon request by emailing gerard@fmguk.com : mailto:gerard@fmguk.com or margaret@fmguk.com : mailto:margaret@fmguk.com .

For further information on H20 Car Valeting www.h20carvaleting.com :

This information was brought to you by Cision www.cisionwire.com :

Frequency MediaGerard FranklinMain: 0121 224 7450Fax:

0121 224 7451 gerard@fmguk.com : mailto:gerard@fmguk.com