Cashmaster International creating jobs on back of $2.7m US order

A FIFE company that specialises in cash counting machines is looking to expand its workforce after winning the largest order in its 35-year history.

Cashmaster International secured the $2.75 million (£1.8m) deal to supply 10,500 devices to a customer in the US.

Neil Hunter, managing director of the family-owned firm, said: “While we have a core of blue chip customers in the UK, for a number of years now we have been focusing on export growth.

“This policy is now starting to bear fruit. We doubled our sales in the US last year, and this order means we are on course to double sales there again.”

Cashmaster designs and builds its machines at its base in Rosyth, where the company currently employs around 50 people, and chief financial officer Douglas Ross said it was looking to take on more staff to meet demand for its devices, which work by weighing money rather than mechanically counting notes.

“It’s a very specialised electronic scale, and the software converts the weight into the value,” he said.

Ross said the company had a broad range of customers, covering banks, retailers and even schools, who can use its devices to count cash and supermarket vouchers from the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

He added: “In the UK, most of our business is with the four main supermarkets. However, we recently did a big order in Australia, and banking is the strongest sector for us over there. In the US, it’s a mixture, covering retail and fast food.”

Exports make up the bulk of Cashmaster’s business, Ross said, adding that its devices are used in around 8,000 coffee shops across the US. It also has sales branches across Europe and distributor deals in countries such as Australia, Canada and Japan.

“Because the core software’s already there, we can pretty much do any currency in the world,” he added.

“One of the main issues is in countries that are very humid, because paper money can absorb moisture. However, our machines are self learning so they can account for changes in weight caused by humidity or wear and tear on notes and coins.”

Marketing manager John Wannan said the firm was keen to use its export success to fund the development of new products, and it continues to enjoy good growth in the UK “despite the growing threat from cheaper imported alternatives”.

He added: “Our export sales are growing and our strategy is to continue this trend.”