When in the 1970s British tourists discovered luxury showers in top hotels abroad, they wanted the same thing at home. Per Mathiesen saw a business opportunity and in 1971 secured a licence to make an upmarket American shower unit in Britain. Since 1980, Matki Showering has designed its own units, which it makes at plants in Cornwall and Bristol. They are sold to plumbers’ merchants and bathroom showrooms in Britain and abroad, as far afield as Russia. Profits grew 47% a year from £1.9m in 2000 to £6.1m in 2003