A West Midlands IT firm has landed a series of contracts on the Continent - but it's not just business leads that have made the company a success.
Senokian Solutions has expanded from two to eight staff since it moved into the University of Warwick Science Park's Business Innovation Centre in Binley, Coventry, last year.
The firm, which special-ises in tailoring open source software for medium and large concerns, also has space at its offices for company mascot Archie - and the Cocker spaniel has certainly proved to be a good luck charm.
The company has a growing portfolio of clients including CV One and Coventry University locally, as well as winning deals in Germany and Norway.
Jake Stride, Senokian's managing director, said: "In less than a year at the Innovation Centre, we have quadrupled in size.
"The image of the centre and the services it provides have been a huge help and we have found a niche in the market that has appealed to a variety of companies.
"The firm we work for in Germany said they could not find another company in Europe who could do for them what we have done.
"Our work with open source software allows businesses to tailor applications to fit their own needs rather than them trying to fit in with existing software."
He added: "Archie comes into the office most days - everyone has got to know him within the Business Innovation Centre and he has proved to be a very lucky mascot!"
Karen Aston, centre manager at the University of Warwick Science Park's Business Innovation Centre, said that Senokian's growth had not gone unnoticed.
She said: "Everyone at the science park has been commenting how impressive the rise of Senokian has been.
"When they moved here, there were just two staff and they have expanded extremely rapidly with practical and financial support provided by the Science Park.
"This has been in the form of STEP project which allowed it to take students on placement to help them develop the business, together with a small equity investment from the science park's seed fund which has provided the opportunity for the company to grow quicker than would otherwise have been possible.
"We are delighted to have helped them expand and believe they are well positioned for a very strong future."
