Napier Brown to take on 80 staff after landing major contracts

Around eighty extra staff are expected to be hired at Napier Brown’s headquarters in Normanton, West Yorkshire.

Building work is also nearing completion at Napier Brown’s “sugar hub”, a new £3.5m sugar handling facility at Immingham, which is due for completion by the end of the year.

Napier Brown, which is owned by The Real Good Food Company, has secured two supply contracts for its branded range of Whitworths sugars from Leeds-based supermarket retailer Asda and Booker, the food wholesaler.

The new contracts, which begin later this month, will involve Napier Brown supplying a range of more than 60 product lines, including the Whitworths specialist ranges, Whitworths for Baking, as well as a number of new products.

According to a company spokesman, the new facilities in Immingham will be used to ensure that bulk sugar shipments arriving by sea are handled and distributed efficiently.

Pieter Totté, the Real Good Food Group chairman, said: “We look forward to building our relationships with both Asda and Booker and believe that the Whitworths brand still has huge growth potential.”

Analysts at Shore Capital said: “Overall, a positive announcement from RGFC (Real Good Food Group).

“We leave our forecasts unchanged at this stage ahead of the upcoming interim results.”

Napier Brown already employs 140 staff and management at its site in Normanton, which sources and handles sugar from around the world. The company can trace its roots back to the 1920s, when Napier Brown was one of a number of City commodity houses specialising in sugars, dried fruits, pulses and canned goods.

Napier Brown was involved in the development of golden granulated cane sugar in the 1970s

The company also introduced organic cane sugars in the 1990s, to meet a growing demand from food manufacturers.

Organic granulated, caster and demerara cane sugars were supplied to retailers and food manufacturers using product sourced from audited suppliers in South America.

The Real Good Food Company is a diversified food group. Apart from Napier Brown, which is Europe’s biggest non-refining sugar distributors, it includes Garrett Ingredients, Renshaw, R&W Scott and Haydens Bakery.

Mr Totté, executive chairman, started his business career in the automotive industry at Ambi BV in Holland and went on to become managing director of Radcliff Europe BV. Since moving to the UK in 1983, he has developed a range of business interests.

He founded RGFC in 2003 and took over as executive chairman in 2009.