Appleby Westward is pumping more than £10m into the business.
The southwest Spar wholesaler is spearheading two major investment schemes that will develop its warehousing facilities and company-owned estate.
A total of £8.5m will be spent on building new warehousing and refurbing its existing warehouse and headquarters in Saltash, Cornwall, scheduled for 2023.
“A warehouse extension will be built on the land we own adjacent to our current warehouse buildings,” said Appleby Westward MD Mike Boardman. “In addition to the new building, we will be improving on-site car parking, redesigning and refitting the office facilities and modernising the existing warehouse buildings.
“This is a major capital investment and reflects not just our recent rapid growth but also our ambitions for the future.”
Meanwhile, there will be a £1.6m investment scheme running throughout the year to develop its company-owned estate, with additional funding aiming to secure better commercial deals as it expands and provide new job opportunities in local areas.
Appleby Westward has also set aside £500,000 to co-invest in store development programmes for its independent Spar retailers. It is planning on adding 35 new stores to the business this year.
The investment in its 140-strong company-owned store estate comes on the back of a major investment in improved refrigeration in selected stores over the past year. The 2023 capital expenditure programme aims to improve stores further, for both customers and staff, ensuring back-of-house facilities are upgraded and redecorated.
“These projects demonstrate our continued success and intention to grow the business over the coming years,” said Boardman. “It will help us to remain at the heart of our communities, help more independent customers to flourish with us as a partner and provide more job opportunities and career development for our colleagues.”
The investment drive comes as the Spar wholesaler recently created a new divisional board to strategically manage the company’s growth ambitions.
Kelvin Beardsley has been appointed as operations director, Lucie Coleman as retail director, and Duncan Jelfs as commercial director.
“This move is designed to strengthen the senior management structure within the Appleby Westward Group to reflect both the rapid sales growth within the organisation and the increasing complexity of our operations,” said Boardman.
“All members of the new divisional board will report to me and will assume responsibility of corporate governance, strategic planning and budget setting, together with the delivery of key projects and profit and loss management. Joe Keohane, group finance director, will join this new divisional board.”
Kelvin Beardsley has several years’ experience directing operations in the logistics industry, while Lucie Coleman joins from Jollyes – The Pet People, where she was also retail director.
Duncan Jelfs has 30 years’ experience in the retail sector and joins from Bestway, where he was head of Bargain Booze and Co-op franchise.
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