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Avon Protection, part of Avon Rubber p.l.c., today announced a new strategic partnership agreement which will see its world leading, advanced respiratory protection products complimented with specialist CBRN consultancy and training services supplied by SecureBio Ltd.

The partnership will see Hamish de Bretton Gordon, formerly COO of SecureBio, which he founded 3 years ago, move to Avon Rubber p.l.c. as Managing Director CBRN, whilst maintaining an active consultancy role with SecureBio as a director. SecureBio has an impressive list of global blue chip clients as well as providing CBRN resilience advice to the majority of the international media community operating in Syria. The new total service offering will provide a world class, unparalleled, single point of contact service for all global CBRN requirements.

“I am honoured to join Avon, having worn and trusted Avon Protection respiratory products throughout my career in the British Army. Avon’s products are a cut above anything else currently offered on the market, providing ultimate protection, comfort and the flexibility required by users across all markets.” De Bretton-Gordon says, “Entering this new role I am eager to get to work, and I look forward to engaging with our global customer base to provide total CBRN requirement solutions”.

De Bretton-Gordon’s 23 years’ service in the British Army includes service as Commanding Officer of the UK CBRN Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. His operational deployments included the 1st Gulf War, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005 he was appointed an OBE for exceptional performance. He is placed as one of the world’s leading experts in chemical and biological counter terrorism and warfare. His recent work has taken him on a number of occasions to Syria during the current conflict advising UK based charity Syria Relief on treating the victims of chemical weapons attacks. Today De Bretton-Gordon advises senior UK Government members on CBRN and is frequently seen on global news channels providing expert commentary.

Speaking of the announcement, Peter Slabbert Avon’s Chief Executive commented:

“Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is widely experienced and hugely respected in the CBRN field and his appointment will further solidify Avon’s standing in the global market as a CBRN expert and total solutions provider. Avon Protection's rapidly expanding global client base now includes military forces, law enforcement teams, firefighters, other first responders and industrial, marine, mineral and oil extraction site personnel. The past few years has seen significant growth for the company and as we move forward we are looking to further our capability offering to the end user. SecureBio are able to offer expertise which complements that of Avon and we expect to work closely with the company in the future.”

De Bretton-Gordon’s appointment follows a strong pre-close trading statement for the Avon Rubber p.l.c. group. The Avon Rubber Board reported trading comfortably ahead of current market expectations.