Widnes Vikings are delighted to announce that Emerald Kalama will become an official Kit Partner of the club in 2021, continuing and upgrading their partnership with the Vikings.
For the first time, the Emerald Kalama Chemicals logo will be proudly displayed on the front of the Widnes first team shirt in 2021, as an addition to their existing sponsorship of the club.
Emerald Kamala Chemicals (EKC) is a business group of Emerald Performance Materials (EPM) employing about 500 employees primarily in Europe and America.
Widnes is the only UK site in the Group and was acquired by Emerald in 2015, employing around 100 people and supporting another 30 ‘term contractors’ primarily in maintenance and facility management roles.
Over the last two years the site has actively been increasing their presence and sponsorship in the local community, leading to their successful partnership with the Vikings.
The locally based business are main sponsors of the club’s Learning Disability Rugby League team, with their brand proudly displayed on the front of the LD Super League shirt ever since its inception.
Their support of this initiative has seen the team compete across the country, which included a memorable debut at the home of Liverpool Football Club, as the players took to the field at Anfield during Magic Weekend.
Combined with their LDRL and First Team Kit sponsorship, Emerald Kalama will also enter their second season as Training Range Partners and continue their player sponsorship of First Teamer and Academy Graduate Calum O’Neill.
Emerald as a company produces a broad range of specialist materials, such as Benzoic acid, Benzaldehyde, flavour and fragrance ingredients and rubber additives. At Widnes however, manufacturing is focused on active ingredients that are used in fragrances and flavours.
This has been the heart of the site’s manufacturing base since it was first developed back in 1957 by Bush Boake Allen. As with the local community, the company aims to work with its customers in a collaborative way so that by understanding their requirements it can use its knowhow and innovative materials solutions to bring added value to the relationships.
With their production of household and personal hygiene products, the Widnes site has worked hard throughout the pandemic to fulfil much-needed customer orders, with office staff combining working from home with minimal visits to the office.
Although hand sanitiser and PPE was in short supply in the early stages of the pandemic, Emerald still supported local care homes and hospices with items from their own limited stock.
Graham Smith, Site Director at Emerald Kalama, commented, “Fortunately for Emerald Kalama Chemical Widnes, 2020 has been a good year.
“As a manufacturer of intermediates that are used in household and personal care products demand has been good and the site has run continuously throughout the year.
“Conscious that we have had a good year, it is more important than ever that we support the community in any way we can. When we set out on our sponsorship journey, we identified Widnes Vikings as a key promoter of community projects and why we wanted to partner with them.
“As we go into 2021 it is really important that the Board of Directors is supported so that it can help the club back on its feet and generate the community spirit and sense of belonging that is so important to the town and the supporters.
“To be able to help in this way and have the Emerald logo displayed on the front of the first team shirt as well as continue our sponsorship of the LDRL team is a great feeling and sits at the heart of Emerald’s core values.”
