Finsbury Food has poached First Milk marketing director Paul Murray as the cake maker celebrates sealing four new licensing deals.

Murray has joined Finsbury as marketing and development director, having spent 18 years in the food and drink industry - most recently at First Milk and before that at premium spirits company Maxxium.

In his new role, Murray will draw on his experience at First Milk, where he secured a licensing agreement with DreamWorks to use its characters on the Dairy Maniacs brand.

Finsbury is expanding the size of its own licensed cake business. It has just signed two licence extensions to make cakes under the Star Wars and Peppa Pig brands and has sealed two new agreements to make Fireman Sam and Power Ranger cakes.

In addition to building the licensed brand portfolio, Murray will bring his expertise in innovation and insight to bear across the cake business.

“His wealth of experience across the industry makes him a valuable asset to Finsbury,” said Finsbury Food CEO John Duffy.

Murray said his proudest achievement at First Milk was building the Lake District Cheese Company from sales of £5m to £40m in three years. The lessons from that experience were that success comes from “having the right consumer insight, the right marketing and an appealing commercial proposition,” he said.

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