A FAMILY-RUN drilling contractor firm in Denbighshire has secured a finance package of over £500,000 from HSBC UK to purchase a first-of-its-kind drilling rig.

Dragon Drilling, one of the UK’s leading drilling contractors based in Corwen, specialises in water and ground source heating borehole installations as well as landfill drilling.

HSBC UK funding of £500,000 has enabled the business to purchase the first of 5 highly productive drilling rigs manufactured in Germany. The new rig will increase the business’ turnover by 20 per cent.

The new purchase will be Dragon Drilling’s thirteenth rig with all of the previous rigs also funded by HSBC UK. The company has recruited 3 additional staff bringing the complement to 30.

Geoff Ellison, Chairman at Dragon Drilling, said: “We are fortunate that the pandemic has not affected our expansion plans as demand for our services has continued to grow over the last few months. The addition of this latest rig will increase our turnover by 20 per cent and ensure we can provide better services to our customers by sustainably extracting energy from the ground to heat properties in a cost-efficient and eco-friendly way.

“We have been banking with HSBC UK since 2005 and without the bank’s support we wouldn’t be where we are today. The bank has always taken the time to really understand our business and support our ambitions for growth, particular our relationship manager William Jones who has always ensured that processes ran seamlessly.”

Phil Sargeant, Area Director, Wales at HSBC UK, added: “Dragon Drilling is a perfect example of a company that is committed to both the sustainable use of natural resources and providing a great service to its customers. It’s been very rewarding to see the business grow and flourish over the last 15 years.”

Dragon Drilling is fully committed to the Government’s policy of the UK reducing its net emissions of greenhouses gases and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.