AN industrial motor company on Teesside has invested more than £300,000 to treble the size of its operations.

Only five years after being set up, Industrial Motors and Gears (IMG) has moved its headquarters to a 6,000sq ft site in Middlesbrough, which it plans to expand further by building extra office space to accommodate facilities to allow work to be carried out in-house.

The company, which has moved from Kirkleatham Business Park to Middlesbrough's Nelson Street Industrial Estate, is also planning to break into new global markets and increase its workforce in the coming months.

IMG has continually built up its reputation as a specialist in repairing and supplying industrial gear boxes and electric motors since being set up in 2002, and now has a number of clients across the North-East, the UK and the world.

The company is working on orders from as far afield as Norway, South Korea and Kenya, and sees contracts from overseas as playing a major role in its future expansion.

Paul Worthy, who set up IMG with business partner Neil Waddington in the UK Steel Enterprise's Innovation Centre in Kirkleatham, said the company was going from strength to strength.

"After five years we have just outgrown our space," he said.

"There is huge scope for us in export and this expansion will ensure we are ready to exploit that market fully.

"We now have a 6,000sq ft unit and plan to build additional offices as well. We are not only investing in new premises, but also in test facilities to take larger motors, spray booths and equipment that will enable us to carry out all re-winds in-house, rather than sub-contracting.

"We have a team of five at present, but are advertising for additional qualified fitters and re-winders."

Nick Johnson, of UK Steel Enterprise, said: "Industrial Motors and Gears has proved extremely successful and achieved exactly what we hope our tenants will do - grow to such a size that they need to move on to bigger premises."