Wilkie Group, a Scotland-based innovative textile company, recently announced in Shanghai that its annual revenue increased 35 percent and net profit doubled thanks to a large number of contracts and orders gained in China.
Wilkie entered China in 2017 after investing 5 million pounds ($7.13 million) to build factories in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, in 2015.
Julian Taylor, executive director of Scottish Development International Asia Pacific, said Scottish textile companies keep innovating technology and have built advanced production facilities in both China and Scotland.
Wilkie's success arose from the upgraded economic cooperation between China and Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, said during her recent visit to Shanghai that Scotland expects to attract more trade and investments from China.
"Over the past four years, Scotland's exports to China witnessed a year-on-year increase of more than 33 percent. Last year, the number was 40 percent, higher than the growth rate of exports to any other partner countries," said Sturgeon. "Moreover, China's investments in Scotland are also rising."
Economic cooperation between Scotland and China has been expanded from traditional textile, tourism, and energy industries to the big data, internet, and precision medical treatment industries.
For instance, Ctrip, an online Chinese travel agency, bought Scotland-based flight search engine Skyscanner in 2016.
Huawei, a Chinese technology company, signed a three-year cooperation agreement with the University of Edinburgh to build a joint lab in 2017.
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, visits Shanghai on April 11. [Photo/baijiahao.baidu.com]