BUSINESS is more than brisk for Robert Walker.

The sales and marketing director for family-owned Elland company Portfolio Display says: We are inundated with enquiries at the moment and for the past two years we have grown the business year-on-year.

The firms excellent track record led to Portfolio Display being highly commended in the category for growing business in the prestigious CBI Peoples Awards in March. We had made no redundancies and we have invested in training all the managers as well, says Robert. Turnover has grown by 20% and 15% in the past two years respectively.

To capitalise on its success, the company, which designs and makes promotional display products, has invested significantly in a new website, which is due to go live in the next few weeks. The six-month project will provide the firm with a site which is easier for customers to navigate and simplifies the process for buying its 200-plus products.

There is a lot of programming to go into the pricing system because we have so many different products and variations on products, says Robert, who believes that technology will play a bigger and bigger role in selling.

Smartphones are already having an impact, but they will explode onto the scene in the next 12 months, he says. They will overtake desktops as the way people access the internet, so our website needs to be geared up for Smartphone applications.

Robert is only, 30 but he brings considerable experience to his role at Portfolio Display, a company founded 26 years ago by his father, Geoff. One of Roberts earliest experiences was helping to put key fobs together at the tender age of five!

When I did eventually join the business, I already knew the products because I had also worked here during my summer holidays, he says. I also spent time during my college years working for Caravan Guard, a specialist insurance business in Halifax. I had sales experience already.

After schooling, Robert attended St John Moore University in Liverpool, where he completed a four-year degree course in business studies with marketing. He spent his year out on placement working in marketing for an international engineering company in Manchester.

It was great experience because theres no substitute for getting stuck into the practicalities of a job, he says. Learning the theory is fine, but I probably learned more about marketing during my placement year than I did for the rest of the course.

I knew before my placement that I wanted to work in marketing, but it helped confirm my ambitions.

After graduating, Robert worked as marketing manager for another engineering firm in Halifax before joining the family business.

My dad asked me if I fancied working for the company, he recalls. He had never had someone in a full-time marketing role. I took up the post, which led me into sales as well and led me to being sales and marketing manager and later sales and marketing director.

Robert and his brother Garth are now directors of the firm. I work with our top clients and bring the business in while Garth is responsible for production and getting products out of the door to the customers!

Garth has a degree in transport design and is in the third year of a masters degree in manufacturing.

Robert said: We are both sticklers when it comes to attention to detail. You hear about companies where print jobs have gone wrong. We wont send out any work we wouldnt be happy to receive ourselves.

I constantly read up on the latest developments in the industry, looking at new things.

My role at the moment is to oversee a lot of projects such as the website and new catalogue, which has been printed and launched.

Historically, the company has supplied promotional display and point-of-sale products mainly to the automotive industry it includes Volkswagen and Audi among its clients. Over the past two years, it has diversified to cover all industries requiring promotional and exhibition material.

The company is tendering for a major contract at the moment. Its one of the biggest brands in the world and I gave a presentation to them a few weeks ago, says Robert. The presentation showed their point-of-sale material in a virtual car forecourt to meet their brief of showing a forecourt for the year 2020. It is one of the biggest projects Ive been involved with and we have made the shortlist. The contract is potentially worth £300,000 a year.

Robert and Garth also have plans to expand the business by adding another 3,000sq ft to the site at Elland Lane. My dad started the company in a portable building in his garden and moved here 26 years ago, he explains.

The location is ideal for a number of reasons. Many of the firms employees live locally and Robert lives at Salendine Nook allowing him to free wheel to work. Robert and girlfriend Victoria are moving house, but only to Birkby, so Robert will be spared a lengthy commute!

Despite being busy helping to grow the company, Robert finds time for other interests. Chief among them is following Huddersfield Town. I started watching then when I was nine or 10, he says. I go to every home game and Im looking forward to the play-offs.

I go to the gym and regularly go running. I enjoy listening to music, particularly indie and dance, and playing the acoustic guitar although only for my own enjoyment.

Robert also enjoys travel, with Ibiza a favourite destination for him and Victoria. He says: I used to go for the clubbing, but I cannot do that any more! We just go to relax in the northern part of the island. People think of Ibiza as a party island, but there are some beautiful locations.

Victoria runs her own business, VJW Holistic Therapies, at Heritage Exchange, Lindley, and Robert has been known to help with the marketing.

But business at Elland is never far from his thoughts. Our year-end was in April and we will be setting targets for the next 12 months, he says. We also have a five-year forecast. We are setting tough targets, but they are realistic targets. We are always looking at new product design and development and how to use technology to stay ahead.

He adds: We are confident about the team we have in place. Without them, this company could not function. You need people with the right skills and we have the right people.