Mullingar firm Writech seals multi-million euro deal to expand abroad

A Mullingar firm has just sealed a multi-million euro deal that is to see it expand into Scandinavia and the Benelux countries.

The family-owned Writech Limited has agreed on an investment arrangement with Waterland, one of Europe’s largest private equity firms.

Brothers Alan and Ted Wright are confident that the move will see Writech’s turnover increase to €115m over the next three years. In 2020 Writech had total sales in excess of €20 million.

The two are already constructing a €1.2m research and innovation centre at their offices in Mullingar, which is to see them recruit in the region of 30 engineers in preparation for the expansion.

“Our aspirations are to establish offices in Scandinavia and the Benelux region, and this will add to our current offices in the UK,” says Alan.

“We are hoping to make that expansion through mergers or acquisitions, and we will be then adding to the Writech portfolio, at least another 100 jobs over the next two years.

“We want to actively examine an expansion into some of the North African countries and possibly the Middle East again – although that is in three years’ time.

“We are also talking to a potential partner in the United States at the moment, because the technologies we have at the moment are way ahead of our competition.”

Writech is a specialist fire protection engineering company. It designs, manufactures, installs, commissions and services fire protection sprinkler systems and specialist fixed fire protection systems.

It is not the only player in the field but it is one of the big hitters on the international scene because, explains Ted, it is different in how it does things: “We provide modular systems designed using state of the art 3D BIM technology and pre-fabricated to clients’ specific requirements.

“We design them, we manufacture them, we fabricate it all in house and we ship to the site, and then have our own installation crews to install the system.”

The firm has experienced phenomenal growth in the last 12 months alone as data storage giants are among Writech’s biggest customers. The firm has quadrupled its manufacturing capacity.

“Since the pandemic, our business has almost increased by 30pc and that is very much due to the levels of internet use because of remote communications.

“And there doesn’t seem to be any slowing down on this, because we have nearly built a whole new norm for working remotely now, and therefore, that gives rise to a huge demand for data storage,” Alan explains.

“The order books are full until 2023 at this moment, and if you take what is after happening in the world with the pandemic, we are very, very lucky to be in the position that we are in.

“We are lucky enough to be in a specialist, engineering zone or industry that really is called upon now, because these big companies are expanding and they want us to go with them and go at that rate. So all we have to do is bring on people and train them as quickly as we can so we can do things twice as fast as we were doing them.”

Family business flying and expanding thanks to work of Wright brothers

The Writech business was founded by Thomas and Mary Wright in the 1970s after Thomas was sent by Bórd na Móna for training in fire protection systems in the UK, and he realised there was a wider need for such technologies in this country.

Alan and Ted joined their parents in the business, and in 2008, they bought their parents out. “Since that time, the company has gone from strength to strength each year,” says Alan. “We went from employing 12 people in 2008, to 140 direct employees today. And we are now working in eight different countries.

“What happened is we arrived at a stage in our business cycle where, in order to expand the way we were expanding, we thought it best to look at the area of partnerships.

“In the world of partnerships, you are looking at merging or private equity. The growth we have planned for the next five years is going to be over €30m to €40m worth of investments.

“We started the ball rolling three years ago, submitting an application for planning for a new innovation and design centre here in Mullingar, which is under construction.

“That is a €1.2m investment that is going to create another 25 to 30 jobs, and it will become one of the leading fire engineering design and innovation centres outside of the US. “We are one of only two companies in Europe, if not the only company, that does modular packages of systems to send on site with most of the work done except for installing pipework.

“We have been bringing additional innovation to our production line which has proven a success with players in the data centre expansion world and the pharmaceutical sector.

“We cover every area of business and manufacturing. We deal with small, self employed, indigenous companies, up to the blue chip, large multinational companies.

“We are honoured to say we have supported and worked with companies like ours, that we have seen grow into big companies over time.

“I can’t name names, but I can say we gain as much enjoyment in working with the self-made entrepreneurs of this world as with the blue chip companies. To us every customer is equal and that is important.”

Both Alan and Ted laud the staff at Writech for their part in the growth and in keeping the firm ahead of the competition, and are proud to declare that most of the research and design behind its systems and software was done in Mullingar, with input from DCU.

The two are excited about the Mullingar innovation and design centre: “We are probably looking at opening in December of this year; if not it will probably be early February, depending on the Covid restrictions.”

“It will be futuristic and it will have things like a gym and a games room,” he says. “Our designers and other hires are young engineering graduates or architectural graduates who want a future in the world of engineering. At this moment we have 15 full-time engineers in our offices; of five nationalities.” The two are committed to Mullingar and Westmeath: “We try and give back as much as we can to the community,” says Alan, revealing that as well as providing support to Westmeath GAA, the firm also supports Good2Talk and the North Westmeath Hospice.