Silva Ltd has been chosen as sole UK and Ireland distributor for the American-based firms Lowrance and Eagle Electronics. Founded in 1932, the company’s fortunes took off making handheld compasses for orienteers. Soon Silva diversified into other navigational fields, including marine, and gradually the Livingston-based Silva Ltd established itself as one of the major warranty-backed distributors of electronics in the UK.

Silva’s Marine Business Manager Jim Deheer was delighted with the appointment: “In these fast and changing times we are all experiencing in the UK market, Lowrance needs a focussed electronics specialist who has a lively sales, service and distribution infrastructure, which can efficiently pick up and maximise the existing UK and Eire opportunity. I am proud that Silva Limited fits that bill. Within minutes of the news breaking we were handling product enquiries from interested customers.”

Silva employs 350 people worldwide and already distributes the Star Cruising and Nexus range of navigational electronics. This year’s figures show that Silva doubled its sales this year to over $45 million.