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Fox Marble bags first significant Turkish customer

Last updated: 07:34 26 Apr 2017 BST, First published: 12:34 26 Apr 2017 BST

Marble auction
Simsekler owns nine marble quarries in Turkey as well as three factories and two showrooms and warehouses

Marble quarries operator Fox Marble Holdings PLC (LON:FOX) has bagged a €400,000 sales agreement with a Turkish customer.

Simsekler Mermer, one of Turkey's premier natural stone groups, is to take Fox Marble's Selene and Sivec marble product in a deal that marks the Aim-listed firm's first significant sale in Turkey.

Fox Marble will deliver the stone over the course of 2017.

WATCH: Turkey deal 'testament to the quality of our marble', says Fox boss

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The order prompted the company to revise up its estimated order book for the current year from €4.1mln to €4.4mln, which should be recognised as revenue in the current year.

To put that into perspective, in the first half of 2016 the company's sales totalled €262,000.

Exporting marble to an area known as a marble producer

"This new sales order marks our first move into the significant and potentially lucrative Turkish marble market. This new relationship with Simsekler, we believe, further underpins the commercial viability of our marble and we look forward to working with Simsekler during the course of 2017 and beyond as we anticipate receiving further material orders,” said Chris Gilbert, chief executive officer of Fox Marble.

The deal is a bit of a “coals to Newcastle” arrangement, as Simsekler owns nine marble quarries itself in Turkey and the region is known as a marble producer.

"It is significant that Fox Marble is able to supply marble to a territory which is itself one of the major exporters of natural stone and a testament to the quality and colour of the marble within its quarries in Kosovo," Gilbert said.

The shares were up 2.2% at 11.37p in lunchtime trading and are up 50% this year.

---adds share price and interview with CEO---

 

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