A hi-tech firm has won £1m of orders to supply electronic passenger display boards for a train line in Mexico and bus stops in the South East of England.

Infotec, of Ashby, said the £700,000 contract for a new railway scheme in Mexico City was its first-ever export deal.

French engineering giant Alstom, which is carrying out the rail project, has asked for 82 LED display units.

Sales and business development director Jeff Court said it had beaten off worldwide competition to secure the contract.

"We are very pleased with this," he said. "It's taken nearly 18 months to get it."

He said the company had now become Alstom's preferred supplier of railway passenger displays and could secure a similar-sized order for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, if Alstom is chosen for the project.

The bus stop order is worth £350,000 and is for more than 100 displays boards across Kent, which could eventually increase to 500. The contract was awarded by Kent and Medway councils.

Mr Court said the deal was the first time it had supplied both the displays and the system which ran them.

"It's quite exciting and we are hoping it will lead on to a lot of other business," he said. "It gives us a longer term involvement in the project with things like maintenance work. It give us a guaranteed income."

He said that annual income would be a five-figure sum. The new orders will help boost turnover from £4.5m last year to £5.5m this year.

Founded 18 years ago, Infotec has made display boards for railway stations across the UK, including St Pancras International, Marleybone, Kings Cross and Leicester.

However, potential cuts in spending on public projects has led bosses to look at ways of diversifying into other areas.

Managing director Tim Court said: "We set out to expand our marketplace by exporting and moving into a more systems-orientated approach this year. We have ticked those boxes."

The Mexican displays will allow operators to include advertisements and the firm has also developed a display board which makes voice announcements. One job has been created as a result of the expansion into the systems market, taking the workforce of its factory in The Maltings, off Tamworth Road, to 35. Further new posts could be created.

Last year, the company won orders worth £3m to supply hundreds of electronic displays to train stations across Britain. This included a £1.5m project to fit 400 LED systems at London's Waterloo, London Bridge and Fenchurch Street stations, as well as at Leeds, Glasgow and Manchester, which replaced out-of-date cathode ray tube displays.

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