Former racing driver Anders Hildebrand doesn’t park his cars in his garage in Wareham.
Instead, he’s converted it into the headquarters of a £2m business.
Anglo American Oil Company Ltd (AAOIL) in Holly Close, Sandford, supplies clean-burn fuel and oil from the space where Mr Hildebrand’s cars should be.
Instead of housing vehicles it has been fitted out as an office for his staff.
In the last year AAOIL generated a £2.2m turnover and this is forecast to rise by £300,000 in 2010.
Profit is three per cent of revenue, according to Mr Hildebrand.
Trading for 11 years, AAOIL supplies 5,000 drivers and garages with fuel and also manufactures its own cleaner racing fuels and oils at its blending plant and warehouse in Berkshire.
“We supply Poole driver Marcus Dodd, who won a record seventh Rallye Sunseeker this year,” said Mr Hildebrand, who originally comes from Sweden and arrived in the UK in 1995 to work at Spectre, the troubled manufacturer of the Spectre R42 sportscar, which starred in the film RPM.
AAOIL, which manufactures the R brand of race fuels and oils and distributes Sunoco race fuel in Europe and the Middle East, provides oil to the British Rally Championship as well as the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge.
The company’s success has meant that Mr Hildebrand is now able to consider buying land and building a warehouse nearer his home.
“We hope to acquire land to build a warehouse in Dorset – it’s difficult to be 88 miles from your warehouse,” he said.
AAOIL doesn’t just work with motorsports but also supplies gardeners with its clean burning Aspen alkylate petrol and EcoPar diesel.
“Aspen is for small capacity engines like chainsaws and emissions are 100 times cleaner than normal fuel,” Mr Hildebrand said, adding that there was a potential £10m market for the petrol product alone in the UK.
AAOIL, which employs 12 staff, supplies Aspen petrol to The National Trust, London Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, the Forestry Commission, Longleat Enterprises Ltd and Gatwick Airport.
By Tim Saunders - Reproduced from www.businessdorset.co.uk.
