Burbank Company Named ‘Exporter of the Year’ by U.S. Export Promotion Magazine

February 5, 2009 – Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. in Burbank, California has been named a 2009 Exporter of the Year award winner by ThinkGlobal Inc., publisher of Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Commerce Department.

The company manufactures industry-specialized hardware and lighting control devices for the motion picture, television, photographic, and theatrical production markets and currently exports to more than 60 countries.

Exporting has been important to the company’s growth almost since it was founded in 1970. As motion picture and television production markets have expanded throughout the world, the need for specialized equipment has also grown, and the company has exploited that international demand in order to grow and expand.

“We are honored and very grateful that Commercial News USA has recognized our efforts to build our export business,” said Robert E. Kulesh, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the company. “Although we have been exporting products for more than 25 years, it was just ten years ago that we specifically identified exports as a way of achieving long-term growth. Today, exports represent a significant percentage of the company’s business.”

After launching its export activities in Asia, the company focused on European and Middle East markets. The company plans to open an office in Europe in 2009-2010 and then to focus on Central and South America as growth markets. Kulesh credits the company’s success to prospecting, primarily by traveling extensively, frequent customer contact, and visibility at international trade events. Currently, 42.9% of the company’s total revenue is generated from international sales.

“Exports are an integral component of our growth, and we must continue to develop export markets,” said Kulesh. “As motion picture and television production grows throughout the world, we must be there to serve clients with high quality, specialized, innovative industry hardware and lighting control devices. This award recognizes our efforts to increase export sales of U.S. products to world markets.”

Commercial News USA is a catalog-style magazine with an estimated 400,000 readers in 176 countries worldwide. Awards are given to one U.S. company in each of 15 industry categories. Privately held Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. was named Exporter of the Year in the Electrical/Electronics category. All Exporter of the Year award winners will be profiled in the May-June 2009 issue of the magazine.

Criteria on which winners were selected included the total number of documented export transactions completed in 2007, the total percentage increase in sales in 2007 compared to 2006, exports as percentage of total sales, the company’s commitment to exporting, the company’s commitment to customer service, and the company’s innovation and originality in marketing products or services. To be eligible for the award, a company must currently be exporting from the United States.

Gregory Sandler, publisher of Commercial News USA, said that the success of Matthews Studio Equipment is indicative of how American companies can benefit from exporting. “American companies looking for growth need to be considering opportunities outside of the U.S.,” said Sandler. “World markets offer considerable potential for U.S. exporters.”

Information about the Exporter of the Year awards, including profiles of all the winning companies, is available online at www.exporteroftheyear.com. The current issue of Commercial News USA is available online at www.thinkglobal.us.