Welsh bakery Winning Blend has said it is on course for a GBP2m (US$2.8m) boost in turnover by the year’s end on the back of a government-backed expansion of its Llantrisant bakery.
The company, which trades under The Welsh Pantry brand, received GBP340,000 earlier this month from the Wales Economic Growth Fund to help the firm create 34 jobs and safeguard a further ten posts.
Group finance director Mark Sommers said the GBP2m growth forecast for the year ahead would follow a period of “unprecedented growth”, which saw its turnover increase to GBP18m for the 12 months to January 2016. He said manufactured turnover in the year to January 2012 had amounted to just GBP3.8m – representing a compound growth rate of 48% over a four-year period.
Sommers said the growth fund investment “has helped us retain existing business and win new business from existing customers, along with launching new products into a new customer”. “Support from the Welsh government was pivotal in enabling us to expand when we need to as these opportunities could have been lost.”
The investment was Winning Blend’s second successful funding round from the growth fund after it was awarded GBP300,000 in 2013, which created 34 new jobs and led to “significant new own-label business predominantly from Aldi, Lidl and Iceland”, the company said.
The Welsh Pantry label is sold in Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, with the company manufacturing private label for national multiples including Iceland, Aldi, Lidl and Asda.
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By GlobalDataWelsh government cabinet secretary for economy and infrastructure Ken Skates said: “The company’s investment and success also has a significant wider impact on the economy. Welsh Pantry’s policy of buying locally whenever possible means it regularly purchases from more than 100 local businesses and last year spent in excess of GBP3.2m with its local supply chain.”
