Symington’s, which has sites in Leeds and Bradford (UK), and employs around 600 people, also has plans to expand its headquarters at Cross Green, Leeds, to cope with its growth.
Turnover for the company was £125m for the year to the end of February, with £174m forecast for the year ahead.
David Salkeld, chief executive of Symington’s, said: “We have around 20% a year growth in terms of revenue. We are working on a number of acquisitions as we speak and we are working on future product development. We fully expect to create hundreds of jobs in Leeds in the future.”
The company is applying for planning permission from Leeds City Council to extend its warehouse and offices at Cross Green, Leeds, to create a new product development suite. The existing warehouse is 120,000 sq ft, but with the proposed extension it would be 150,000 sq ft.
Salkeld added: “We are also looking at building a second warehouse on land owned by the council adjacent to Cross Green. The extension hopefully should be built in the next 12 months and the new warehouse in the next 24-36 months.”
In two weeks, Symington’s will expand its Dartmouth Way site in Leeds by moving into the former Baron Bros building, providing the firm with an extra 10,000 sq ft.
Having bought the brand Quosh for use in dried products from soft drinks company Britvic for an undisclosed amount, Symington’s will now see its range of powdered drinks go on sale in Asda stores nationwide. Eventually, the plan is to roll out the products to other supermarkets.
The Quosh range of powdered drinks include three squashes in a variety of flavours, including an energy drink and a sport drink. Water is added to the powder to make the drinks, which have no added sugar or artificial colours.
David Cherrie, marketing manager, said: “Everyone has water coolers in the office but they don’t necessarily want to carry a big bottle around with them. The other key thing is packed lunches at school. Pupils are given water at school and there’s the opportunity to add one of the sachets. There has never been a powdered squash format in the UK previously as far as I’m aware.”
Mr Salkeld added: “We will be launching another 250 brand new products over the next 12 months. Some of those will be challenging some of the biggest brands in the world.”
Symington’s is relaunching Ragu and Chicken Tonight in June after acquiring the brands from Unilever last year.
Source: Symington’s
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