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Export Champion: Oxley Group

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the stories of some of Cumbria’s Export Champions to inspire and showcase the benefits of expanding your business overseas to drive growth. In this series, we’ll look at some of the key considerations for any business looking to expand to trade internationally, and explain how the Department of International Trade (DIT) can support you and your business at every stage of the export process.

Oxley Group is a world leading designer and manufacturer of LED lighting systems and high specification electronic components. The products are designed for the defence and aerospace markets and are engineered to meet exacting military specifications.

The business was established in 1942 by the late Freddy Oxley and is headquartered in Ulverston. Freddy started producing capacitors for the military, following the Blitz, the Ministry of Aircraft Production requested Freddy to relocate to safer premises. He moved to the Lake District and established Oxley in Ulverston. The company had significant expansion and in the 1970s Oxley Inc was established in Connecticut to service the US market.

In 2017 Oxley secured its position as leading the global market in aerospace LED lighting after being selected by Korea Aerospace Industries to develop the full external lighting system on the new KF-X and IF-X Fighter Aircraft programme for the Republic of Korea Air Force and Indonesian Air Force. As part of the development contract Oxley will be supplying a ground-breaking external LED lighting system designed specifically for the jets. The lights will incorporate new smart technology and the range will outperform existing technology to deliver high performance and reliability.

The Oxley Group has had wide scale success in exporting and has developed a strong international presence, sales outside of the UK accounted for 80% of turnover in 2020 and cover 34 countries across the world. Oxley has an active overseas growth strategy and is currently developing new business in Turkey, Korea, Japan and Brazil.

The Oxley Group work on prestigious programmes with major aerospace & defence companies across the globe including Boeing, Sikorsky, General Dynamics, Gulfstream, Lockheed Martin, Saab and Airbus.


For information and assistance on trading internationally, please get in touch with our Export Manager, Sarah Peak, who joins our team on secondment from the DIT. She can help with any enquires you may have and enable your business to export and grow into global markets.

sarah.peak@tradenw.org

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