One of Northern Ireland’s longest-established companies, Cyril Johnston has branched into the technology sector with the launch of Jumping Jack™, a new range of portable emergency chargers.

Marking a new direction for the company, which has traditionally specialised in machinery hire, grounds maintenance and garden care products since it was first founded in 1954, the range is part of the firms plans to diversify their offering in response to changing consumer demands.

David Beck, Managing Director of Cyril Johnston said: “There is a lot of heritage behind the Cyril Johnston brand as we have over 60 years experience providing machinery and garden products to both commercial clients and consumers.

“While this remains a core focus for the firm, we also wanted to identify new opportunities to grow the company outside of Northern Ireland and help sustain the business during the winter months when sales of garden and outdoor supplies typically slow.

“We studied consumer trends and found that as mobile phones and tablets are now a significant part of our daily lives, supporting technology such as portable chargers and emergency power sources have become an increasingly important resource.

“We wanted to create an innovative product to meet this demand for power on the move, but it was important for us to add something unique as well.

“That’s one of the reasons why Jumping Jack™, unlike other chargers, is also capable of jump starting cars and other vehicles with up to 3.0L engine capacity, as well as charging almost any electronic device.”

The Jumping Jack™ range is designed by Cyril Johnston at their headquarters just outside Belfast and is currently manufactured in China.

“Once we developed the concept, we partnered with a world-class, specialist electronics manufacturer in China to put it into production. There were a lot of factors to take into consideration, but crucially all Jumping Jack products are fully compliant with the applicable UK and EU electrical safety standards,” added David.

“We’re continually working with the manufacturer to design and introduce new models, including solar powered versions and we hope to launch a new Jumping Jack™ with the capacity to jump start much larger commercial vehicles in the near future.

“We’re currently focusing on online retail and demand has already been strong, particularly in Great Britain, but the goal now is to keep growing the brand across the UK and Europe.”

For more information on Cyril Johnston Ltd visit www.cyriljohnston.com or to find out more on Jumping Jack™ please go to www.thejumpingjack.com