Vianet Group plc

WITH Germany growing in importance as a key market, recruiting a fluent German speaker to handle international sales was an important strategic move for Vianet Group.

As luck would have it, Francois Casteleyn, a Belgian, also speaks fluent French.

"We hired him because he's got perfect French and almost perfect German," says Vianet chief executive Ian Orrock.

"He's in Germany all this week doing a roadshow. He gets out and about and deals with our German agents and customers and our French agents and customers at the first level, which is non-technical. He trundles out to Rosyth on the train and is a well established member of the team."

The Dunfermline-based company, which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market, delivers technology that allows vending machine operators to remotely monitor stock levels in their machines and adjust prices.

Its customers include GlaxoSmithKline - owner of brands such as Lucozade and Ribena - Selecta, Europe's largest vending operator with 150,000 points-of-sale across 24 countries, Vodafone and Aramark, the $4bn US food service group that is currently rolling out across Europe, starting in Germany.

"Germany is a hugely important market and is growing faster than the UK," Orrock says. "Germany has always been a cash society and ten years ago hardly anyone had a credit card - you had to pay your hotel bill in cash. But now it is catching up with things like cashless payments so it's a major market for us with significant growth and interest.

"France on the other hand is proving extremely difficult because they tend to use local French companies to solve anything of a technical nature, so it's important for us to build relationships there - and Francois is key to this."

Francois was moving to Scotland for personal reasons and was put in touch with Vianet through a recruitment agency.

Nationals from the European Union are free to work in the UK full-time without a work permit, while workers from the eight Eastern European Accession States countries must register under the Home Office's Worker Registration Scheme.

Vianet's 24 staff also include two language graduates from Scottish universities. The company is forecast to post £3m sales and maiden profits in the second half of 2007 and £8m sales next year.

Contact

Ian Orrock
Vianet Group plc
Buchan House
Carnegie Campus South
Queensferry Road
Dunfermline
KY11 8PL

T: 01383 748000
W: www.vianet.co.uk
E: info@vianet.co.uk