Lifeline wins German gas giant contract

Preston-based language services company Lifeline Language Services has been selected by German energy company Westfalen Group to translate its press releases and news stories for its new English website.

The family-owned business, founded in 1923, is headquartered in Münster and has over 20 production sites in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, operating in the gas, energy supply and service stations sectors. With around 1,400 employees, the Westfalen Group posted sales of around 1.9 billion euros in the 2013 financial year.

With 11 staff at offices in Preston city centre, the company maintains a team of approximately 3,500 freelance linguists based worldwide covering over 100 languages. Lifeline’s production director Mark Everson said: "Westfalen originally found us via our website when they were looking for a translator for their highly technical industrial gas brochures. As my first degree was in Chemical Engineering, and we already had an extensive track record in the chemicals sector, they recognised we possessed unusually good sector knowledge.”