A PILOT scheme to help West Midlands firms crack export markets has been so successful it is being extended.

The Passport programme, run by Trade Partners UK, originally set out to attract 60 companies that wanted to sell their goods abroad but needed help.

Organisers shut the doors on the pilot scheme when 94 firms signed up, with one company increasing its exports from just five per cent of its turnover to a projected 50 per cent this year.

Permanent

Now, however, Passport has been set up as a permanent programme.

"The companies we can help are those which are already exporting less than 25 per cent of their turnover and want to do more, or those who don't export anything but want to," said Doug Mahoney, international trade director for the West Midlands.

"We have firms that are service-based and others involved in traditional manufacturing. It's not what you do, it's where you want to do it and West Midlands businessmen and women are increasingly looking to make profits abroad."

Businesspeople in the two counties who would like more details can phone Chris Everall, international trade adviser, on 0121 607 8090.