SIMARCO TO CREATE 130 JOBS AT NEW £10 MILLION DISTRIBUTION CENTRE
03 July 2019
One of the UK’s leading independent logistics firms is set to create 130 new jobs with the opening of a £10 million distribution centre in Staffordshire.
Simarco Worldwide has taken a 10-year lease on a 108,000 square foot depot in Stoke which the company has designated as its European logistics and distribution centre for the North of England, Manchester and the Midlands.
Co-founder and Chief Executive, Simon Reed, has described the initiative as “a natural response” to a continuing rise in freight volumes handled by the firm. He added that the depot will complement Simarco’s eight other UK sites, making it even more capable of supporting operations right across Europe.
“This development is a major undertaking on our part but entirely necessary given both our expansion plans and the amount of freight traffic which we are dealing with.
“Despite the ongoing uncertainty about what impact Brexit will have on imports and exports, we’re very confident that the improvements which we have made to services and infrastructure mean that we can expect further growth.
“We expect that our new depot will play a significant part in supporting that process and that’s one reason why we’ll be investing at least £10 million there over the current, full term of the lease.
“It is an ideal location – a real vindication of our business strategy – and will provide clients with even greater reassurance about our ability to deliver on their behalf.”
Simarco’s new depot, which is known locally as Stoke 108, is situated close to Stoke’s principal transport routes and comprises both a 103,000 square foot warehouse and office space.
The additional jobs which are being created will take the firm’s total workforce to more than 450, including 175 at three sites in its home-town of Witham, Essex. Simarco also operates two existing sites in Staffordshire – at Chemical Lane in Stoke and at Barton-under-Needwood.
In February, Mr Reed revealed that the business had secured a 10-year extension on the lease of its headquarters in Witham and was on course to record another double-digit increase in turnover during the current financial year. That, in turn, follows a 20 per cent rise in sales during the previous 12 months.
“This is a tremendously exciting time for Simarco – one which has great challenges and significant opportunities. “I am confident that the work which we have already undertaken and the potential of our new Stoke depot means that we are in the best possible shape to capitalise on them.”