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The company said it was actively looking for a suitable replacement for Young, who is moving to Qatar.

Young graduated from Birmingham University with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Economics. He is a qualified chartered accountant and trained with Touche Ross & Co. He was previously financial director of two private technology companies.

Bomb blast resistant blind 

Eruma plc is the holding company for Security Blinds Ltd, a manufacturer of products focussed on providing physical protection to property and personnel in the corporate, commercial and domestic market. The firm has its head office in London and its manufacturing base in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Security Blinds has developed a bomb blast resistant blind that can be used to combat terrorism as well as ordinary criminal assault. The product is installed in museums, hospitals, schools and private homes and other sites as an effective barrier against people breaking in and - where appropriate - people breaking out.

The security blind looks like a conventional vertical blind, but provides higher levels of security than a set of steel bars or grille. As well as the Home Office the product has been endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers, banks and local authorities.

Gordon Brown’s National Security announcement on 14 November 2007 opened a huge market for companies providing products that prevent damage from terrorist bombs.

In his speech the Prime Minister said that new guidance would be sent to thousands of cinemas, theatres, restaurants, hotels, sporting venues and commercial centres, and all hospitals, schools and places of worship in relation to installing “robust physical barriers as protection against vehicle bomb attacks” and “making buildings blast resistant” in response to terror attacks in London and Glasgow last June.

More than 1,000 pounds of TNT 

The prime minister proposed the UK’s security budget of £2.5 billion in 2007, three times as much as six years ago, should be raised to £3.5 billion by 2011.

He also said that the government would work with architects and planners to encourage them to design protective security measures into new buildings, including the use of blast resistant materials.

Eruma’s security blinds product was subjected to a bomb of more than 1,000 pounds of TNT equivalent on 23 October 2007.  This was five times the size of the explosive charge that the product had previously been tested against and was designed to simulate a large car bomb.

The test was carried out by Advantica Ltd at their test site at Spadeadam in Cumbria and the blinds successfully withstood the blast. The test was undertaken to satisfy both USA and UK requirements with regard to the size of the window, the size of the explosive device and the distance from the explosive device to the window system.

The product was successfully tested a week later to exceed US Department of State regulatory standards against physical entry by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) at their site in Watford.

Phil Garfinkle, managing partner of Eruma’s American partner Trust Strategy Group, said that the tests were an important pre-requisite that would open many opportunities in the government, military and commercial sectors in both the UK and the US.

Counter-terrorism market

Eruma (LSE:ERU) said it had raised £500,000 through the issue of 7,142,857 new ordinary shares at 7p with self-managed investment trust Majedie Investments plc.

The proceeds of the placing will be used for general working capital purposes as the company steps up activity levels in the counter-terrorism market following the successful trials of its security blind product.

Eruma CEO Wayne Money said the tests had proven that the firm’s product could withstand very large vehicle bombs and had put the product firmly on the world stage.

“We have enormous worldwide market potential in both Security Blinds for burglary protection and counter terrorism as well as emergency lighting solutions and we are looking forward to the future with confidence,” Money added.

Eruma’s subsidiary Illuminex has fully developed products using Lighting Emitting Diodes (LEDs) to provide emergency lighting systems which have a much reduced power consumption compared to existing products. 

The technology can be managed remotely allowing low-cost maintenance in public sector and commercial buildings. Health and Safety legislation in the UK dictates that it is a requirement for such premises to have back-up lighting in the event of a power cut or lighting failure.

Related links

• Eruma plc
• Security Blinds