Member Article

The Hut Group to create 2,000 jobs in the North West

The Hut Group plan to invest £100 million and create 2,000 jobs in the North West over the next three years.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron today visited The Hut Group’s (THG) distribution site in Appleton, Warrington to welcome the company’s announcement.

The investment, which provides a further sign of support in the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s long-term economic plan, will see THG’s building a 836,000 square foot distribution and manufacturing centre of excellence at Omega South distribution park, Warrington.

The site will enable THG to increase revenues to £1 billion and is expected to create 2,000 additional jobs in the north-west across technology, engineering, digital, graduate and supply chain roles.

Approximately £80 million will be initially invested in the site by the end of 2015, through both construction and technology, with a further £20 million earmarked for development of the additional development land within 3 years.

THG is one of Europe’s largest online retailers, selling goods direct to consumers across the health and beauty sectors specifically sports nutrition and vitamins; cycling and endurance; hair and skin care; weight management; clothing, footwear and accessories.

THG generates most of its revenues from overseas customers from the sale of Health & Beauty products across 26 international websites, whilst employing its entire 1,300 employee workforce in the north-west.

The visit formed part of the Chancellor and Prime Minister’s 2 day tour of the north-west, where they are setting out their 6-point long-term economic plan for the region, which shows what has been delivered, what is underway and what more can be done to build a northern powerhouse.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “The Hut Group’s investment in 2,000 new jobs in the north-west is fantastic news for the area. It shows that our long-term economic plan to create jobs and investment in the north of England and increase the region’s exports to the rest of the world, is working.

“I want Britain to be a country where companies want to invest and create jobs, which is exactly what The Hut Group are doing today.

CEO of THG, Matthew Moulding, said: “At The Hut Group, we continue to heavily invest in our infrastructure to enable us to deliver on our long-term growth plans.

“In 2014, we invested a further £15 million in our proprietary technology platform, creating an additional 400 jobs in the region during the year.

“This investment enabled us to launch a further 17 international websites across Europe, north America, China and Scandinavia, shipping 13 million orders to 190 countries, with the majority of our sales occurring outside the UK.

“Our £100 million investment in the Omega project is a continuation of THG’s commitment to develop as a British export success, and through the creation of our manufacturing centre of excellence we hope to stimulate further growth, both in the UK and Global nutrition markets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .