• Jaguar Land Rover celebrates success as an official supporter of the UK's largest business festival.
• Jaguar Land Rover will showcase its business at a series of high‑profile activities throughout June and July.
• IFB support announced hot on the heels of the company's recently bestowed Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade

Jaguar Land Rover, the UK's leading manufacturer of premium vehicles, is today delighted to announce its support of the International Festival for Business (IFB 2014) which takes place in Liverpool throughout June and July 2014.

As one of the UK's leading exporters and recipient of the 2014 Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade, Jaguar Land Rover is a great British success story. And, with ambitious plans to expand its business in to new markets, Jaguar Land Rover epitomises the aims and objectives of this illustrious festival. The Liverpool City Region is also home to Halewood, one of the company's major manufacturing facilities where it builds the successful Land Rover Freelander 2 and award winning Range Rover Evoque, which will be on display at various events in the IFB schedule.

IFB2014 will consist of more than 250 events that will be taking place across the Liverpool City Region and beyond over 50 days this summer. It will play host to a wide variety of conferences, networking opportunities and engaging events all aimed at promoting British business and its place in the global economy. Jaguar Land Rover will be actively participating in a number of events, beginning with the British Business Embassy & IFB Opening Ceremony on 9 June.

Mike Wright, Executive Director of Jaguar Land Rover said: "It is only right that Jaguar Land Rover should be participating in the Festival. The company is firmly established both as a champion of British design and engineering excellence but also as one of the UK's international success stories. That the Festival takes place in Liverpool and the city region is also highly relevant to us, given the key role that the Halewood manufacturing plant plays both within our business as well as on the global automotive stage".

Max Steinberg CBE, Chair of IFB 2014, said: "To receive support from Jaguar Land Rover is further testament to the importance UK PLC is placing on the International Festival for Business. We're thrilled to be welcoming yet another industry powerhouse to our strong collection of supporters and look forward to working with JLR throughout the course of the festival.

"We're embarking on a season of opportunities and truly world‑class events, several of which are backed by JLR. I urge all businesses and industry professionals to take full advantage of the programme of events and seek out the unique benefits it brings this summer."

Aside from the Opening Ceremony, Jaguar Land Rover will actively be participating in a number of other events throughout the Festival, including the UKTI Markets & Events activity (9 June ‑ 17 July);  

Opportunity Middle East (16 ‑ 18 June); The Global City Leaders Summit (17 ‑ 19 June); HORASIS, The Global India Business Meeting (22‑ 23 June); Global Manufacturing Festival ‑ Sheffield (24 ‑ 25 June); Business of Sport (17 July); MADE, UK Manufacturing Awards (21 ‑ 22 July); and the IFB Closing Ceremony (22 July).  

Jaguar Land Rover is unquestionably one the automotive industries great global success stories, going from strength to strength in almost all aspects of its business. Exports account for 80% of all vehicles Jaguar Land Rover produces at its three UK manufacturing plants and in 2013 the company sold 425,006 vehicles, up 19% on the previous year. Jaguar Land Rover's largest export regions are mainland Europe, North America and China, together accounting for 60% of all export sales. Remarkably, over 40% of the Groups international sales are now conducted outside of the UK, USA and European markets.

 ENDS

Notes to editors:

Jaguar Land Rover:

• Jaguar Land Rover has ambitious plans for sustainable growth and profitability.
• The company was named Responsible Business of the Year 2013, by Business in the Community (BITC). 
• During 2013, Jaguar Land Rover sold 425,006 vehicles, up 19%. Of that, Jaguar sold 76,668 vehicles and Land Rover sold 348,338 vehicles.  In the first quarter of 2014, Jaguar Land Rover sold 124,776 vehicles, up 8%
• Jaguar Land Rover will invest circa £3.5bn in product creation and capital expenditure, in the financial year to March 2015.
• Jaguar Land Rover is one of the UK's largest exporters and generates in the region of 85% of its revenue from exports.  The company has a worldwide network of 2,520 dealers, spanning more than 170 countries.

• In the 12 months to 31 March 2014, Jaguar Land Rover generated profit before tax of £2.5bn with revenues of £19.4bn.  

For more information, please visit www.newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com or contact:

Neil Roscoe, Communications Office
M: +44 7500 814 114 E: nroscoe@jaguarlandrover.com

Nicola Rzeznik, Senior Communications Officer
M: + 44 (0) 7736 912266 E:  nrzeznik@jaguarlandrover.com

About the International Festival for Business 2014

The International Festival for Business is a 50‑day business festival hosted in Liverpool during June‑July 2014. It will be a global showcase for great British industry across multiple sectors, and will champion UK businesses to new markets, new products and new partners.

Comprising more than 200 world‑class events, the festival is a key part of the government's ambition to promote economic growth, rebalance the economy and double UK exports by 2020.

Backed by UK government, IFB 2014 will cast a light on the spheres of commercial endeavour that are transforming the new economies and business landscapes of Britain and beyond.

Key themes of the festival include: manufacturing, science & technology; maritime, logistics & energy; knowledge, professional & financial services; higher & further education & research; low carbon & renewables; cities, enterprise & urban business; knowledge, creative & digital.

The business‑facing side of IFB will be complemented by IFB Culture, a programme of arts‑based events, making this a truly unique experience for all visitors who attend.

IFB is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, from SMEs, corporates and entrepreneurs, to business delegations from across the world.

IFB's official festival partners are BT, one of the world's leading providers of communications services, and Santander, one of Europe's leading banking groups; CNN international, the world's number one international news brand; and the Financial Times, one of the world's leading business news organisations.

His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG is Patron of IFB.

For more information, please visit the website: www.ifb2014.com

You can follow IFB on twitter @ifb2014

For more information about the International Festival for Business 2014, please contact Alex McDonald or Steve Sanders at Paver Smith on 0151 239 5000 or email mcdonald@paversmith.co.uk / sanders@paversmith.co.uk