Bakkavor to add 270 staff after Wingland Foods boost

30-Mar-2014 - Last updated on 31-Mar-2014 at 14:35 GMT

Bakkavor is recruiting to fill 270 new positions after expanding its Wingland Foods factory in Lincolnshire

Bakkavor is recruiting to fill 270 new jobs, after the official opening of its Wingland Foods factory extension last Friday (March 28).

The chilled food manufacturer is recruiting 50-70 full-time positions and about 200 positions to meet demand during the seasonal summer peak at the factory based at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire.

Additional facilities included a new despatch area and a factory extension.

Mike Edwards, Bakkavor’s UK chief operating officer, said: “We are delighted to mark the occasion of the completion of the new despatch area at Wingland Foods.

‘Meet the growth demands of our customer’

“The additional space created and improvement in design will not only allow us to meet the growth demands of our customer [Waistrose], but it will give us the opportunity to invest in local employment to grow and service our business.”

The factory expansion includes a new extension designed to increase capacity and create extra space to accommodate growth. The investment in the site was originally announced in October 2013.

Wingland Foods is Bakkavor’s designated factory for Waitrose Salads. The extension was opened officially by Paul Walker, the supermarket’s director of chilled prepared foods and fresh produce.

Meanwhile, last month Bakkavor reported 4% growth in revenue in full-year results for the 52 weeks to December 28 2013, leading it to outperform the fresh prepared food market, said the firm.

Outperform the fresh prepared food market

Total revenue for the fourth quarter reached £416.3M and like-for-like revenue also climbed by 4% to reach £421.5M.

Bakkavor boss Agust Gudmundsson said the group had made excellent progress in achieving its objectives.

“We completed a successful refinancing, exited a number of overseas operations and restructured certain low margin businesses,” said Gudmundsson. “This was achieved whilst still growing our revenues ahead of the market, protecting our margin from significant raw material inflation and delivering double digit growth in free cash generation.”

The firm predicted that UK market conditions were likely to remain challenging, particularly due to inflationary pressures.

Earlier this year Bakkavor sold its South African prepared fruit business, Spring Valley Foods, for an undisclosed sum.

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