A cutting-edge Worcestershire firm at the forefront of medical technology innovation has doubled its turnover in just 18 months.

Bromsgrove-based Hugo Technology is celebrating a decade of consistent growth after seeing sales climb from £100,000 in 2001 to £1.5 million.

The workforce at Hugo has doubled to 35 and looks to increase further with three key lucrative US contracts in the pipeline.

The firm, which services biomedical equipment from blood pressure machines to defibrillators, was founded in 2001 by NHS colleagues Andrew Parton and Warwick Oakey.

The duo, who had both worked in technical support roles at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, saw a lucrative gap in the market for manufacturers looking to outsource their service requirements, as well as hospitals, GPs and local clinics.

Mr Oakley said: “We saw limited opportunities doing what we were doing. There were limited chances for promotion and we wanted to use our entrepreneurial skills.’’

Mr Parton added: “It was a bit of a risk. We thought there was a niche there to supply that sort of service to hospitals and departments that didn’t have their own in-house team.”

The turning point for the fledgling firm came when the company won a contract with Dutch-founded medical pioneers Nutricia, whose external feeding pumps were used in hospitals throughout the country.

Mr Oakley said: “Nutricia was the turning point. It was regular account work every week. Other stuff was more erratic but that was nice, steady work.

“It got to the point where because we were doing work efficiently for companies they closed their own service departments down and gave us the work. We became Nutricia’s national service department.”

Hugo has now grown to become approved partner for many of the world’s leading biomedical manufacturers, including Philips, Moog, Augustine and Nutricia.

Mr Oakley said: “The biggest growth was in the last 12 to 18 months. Turnover 12 months ago was £750,000 and we have expanded that to £1.5 million.”

Mr Parton said: “We will be looking to take on 10 more people in the next year. The business plan is to expand the company at a rate of £1 million turnover a year, between 20 and 40 per cent a year. We are really at the cutting edge of medical development.

“We were not hit by the recession at all. Whatever happens, people do not stop being sick.

“There is a lot of innovation going on to improve treatment for people. The medical equipment industry is one of the top four or five growth industries in the world.”