中文There is something quietly heroic about a family business that refuses to stand still. In Glasgow, a sign and display company called EVM has just put its money where its mouth is — and the number is not small. They are pumping £1.5m into an expansion plan that they say will more than double their turnover, from £3m to well over £6m, by March 2027. That is not a wish. That is a building next door, signed, sealed, and being fitted out.
Let’s picture it. EVM sits on the Thornliebank Industrial Estate, a fairly unglamorous corner of Glasgow where the real work of the economy happens. They had simply run out of room. You know the feeling — when every square metre is doing double duty and your team is practically tripping over each other. Rather than uproot the whole operation and risk losing what makes them them, managing director Paul Fennon did the sensible, slightly brave thing: he bought the premises right next door. The footprint grows by 40%, handing the company 2,787 square metres of breathing space for production, logistics, stock, and a growing workforce.
Why now? Because the conference and exhibition sector — the kind of work that dried up overnight during Covid — is bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels. EVM wants a bigger slice of that pie, plus fresh opportunities in commercial and specialist retail fit-out. Fennon is clear that more space means more skilled people, more career paths, and the same service that keeps customers coming back. It is the oldest story in business told plainly: grow the room, grow the team, grow the trust.
And the team is the real headline here. EVM is moving from 36 to 47 people, hiring experienced joiners, carpenters, digital printing and finishing operators, and installation technicians. Fennon says, simply, “Our people drive success.” The company has been in his family for two generations, and long-term recruitment matters to them. Many colleagues have been around for over a decade. In recent years they have even brought on several family members of existing staff as apprentices or new-starts. That is the kind of loyalty you cannot buy with a recruitment ad.
The kit tells you they mean business too. EVM runs machines from EFI, Canon, Mimaki, Kongsberg, JWEI and Trotec, and in their bespoke joinery division they lean on Homag and Martin equipment. Alongside the building, they plan to keep investing in high-speed wide-format digital presses and grow their vehicle fleet to include electric delivery vans. Yes, even the delivery vans are going green — a small but telling detail about how a modern shop thinks.
What do they actually make? Signage, branded graphics, and interior fit-out componentry. Their track record is genuinely impressive: they have delivered graphics and large head-office fit-outs for COP26, the Glasgow-based distiller Edrington, Cala Homes, and the UCI World Cycling Championships. When a company’s portfolio includes a global climate summit and a world cycling championship, you know they can handle pressure.
Behind the scenes, the deal was smoothed by a £300,000 mortgage from Bank of Scotland, which let EVM move fast on the neighbouring premises. David Drylie, the bank’s relationship manager, put it nicely: EVM has built an impressive family business over more than three decades, and this investment gives them room to build on that momentum and create skilled jobs from their Glasgow base.
Here is the takeaway for anyone running a print or sign shop. Expansion is scary. Borrowing is scary. But there is a moment when the constraint is not demand, it is space — and if you wait too long, you choke your own growth. EVM read that moment correctly. They did not chase a flashy headquarters in another city. They stayed put, bought the building next door, and kept their roots in the community that raised them.
Will they hit the doubled turnover? Nobody knows for sure — markets shift, costs rise, and fit-out work is cyclical. But the foundations are solid: a clear sector recovering, a loyal team, serious equipment, and a plan that reads like common sense rather than bravado. For a family business three decades in, that is exactly the kind of bet worth making.
Sometimes the most ambitious move a company can make is simply to give itself room to grow. EVM just did.
Source: Printweek
