Packaging firm set to expand on the back of Greggs contract

Apr 29 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

We look at new markets on a daily basis and I believe this will help us to continue growing.

A PACKAGING firm believes it can almost double its turnover and create jobs after extending its contracts with baker Greggs and the region’s health sector.

North Shields-based GM Packaging is looking to increase its turnover from £1.5m to £2.4m after signing an agreement with the Newcastle retail bakery chain to supply its cake and sandwich boxes in London, Scotland and Wales.

The deal has helped the firm to expand rapidly over recent weeks and it is now looking to double the size of its 6,000 sq ft site at the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate in order to increase capacity.

The sales and distribution firm, which works alongside the Durham-based manufacturer ACT Packaging, said that it had seen sales increase by 30% last year, which led to it adding two new members of staff to its five-strong workforce.

It now expects to create more jobs as a result of its increased involvement with the biodegradeable materials sector, with its corn starch plastic cups and sandwich boxes being particularly popular among those firms looking to improve their environmental credentials.

It was also looking to benefit from the closure of one of its biggest national rivals, which had five distribution depots around the country, and that it expected to be in line for some of its customers as a result.

The firm supplies paper bags to South Shields-based outdoor clothing firm Barbour as well as having a long-running contract with the NHS to supply food packaging to hospital canteens throughout the North East, an area it is looking to increase its work in on a national scale.