Avon Rubber, the Melksham-based specialist manufacturer best known for its respirators, has won two major contracts as a result of its £3m acquisition earlier this year of VR Technology Holdings.
Avon bought VR, a market leader in electronics, computers and life support systems used by professional divers, in April to broaden its reach in the global respiratory protection market. 
VR, based in Wimborne, Dorset, with a sister US site in Wisconsin, has now won two development contracts – a contract with Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to develop new technologies for the MoD, for diving rebreather design work, and a contract with Oceaneering, a large oil field services and products company based in Texas, for a new generation of advanced deep-water data loggers.
Avon chief executive Peter Slabbert said: “These contracts together with our own R&D investment in innovative new diving technologies and products will provide increased opportunities for the group, in particular with navies around the world.”
