Skellerup invests $1m in US silicone rubber firm

Skellerup is investing more than $1 million into a United States-based liquid silicone rubber company as it looks to grow its overseas market. The Kiwi company famous for its gumboots invested US$1.1 million (NZ$1.6m) into Sim Lim Technic, giving Skellerup a 35 per cent stake. Skellerup chief financial officer Graham Leaming said the US was its biggest and fastest-growing market, ahead of Australia, New Zealand and Europe. ‘‘We have a growing presence for our dairy rubberware development and manufacturing. We don’t have in-house manufacturing capability to produce materials made from liquid silicone rubber. That’s Sim Lim’s expertise and we wanted to harness that.’’ Leaming said the company was also looking to extend its liquid silicone rubber range into other markets, including Europe and Asia. Skellerup’s profits rose to $117m in the six months ended December 2017, from $8.9m the previous year.