Simon Reed, MD, Simarco 2

Simarco Worldwide has taken a 10-year lease on a 108,000sq ft depot in Stoke, with plans to commence operations there from October.

The Staffordshire site will be the group’s DC for the north of England, Manchester and the Midlands, as well as providing a home for its European logistics business.

The operator has estimated it will invest around £10m at its latest location over the full term of the site's lease.

Simarco Worldwide chief executive, Simon Reed (pictured), said it was “a natural response” to a continuing rise in freight volumes handled by the firm.

He added that the depot will complement Simarco’s eight other UK sites.

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“Despite the ongoing uncertainty about what impact Brexit will have on imports and exports, we’re very confident that the improvements which we have made to services and infrastructure mean that we can expect further growth,” he said.

The additional jobs which are being created will take the firm’s total workforce to more than 450, including 175 at three sites in its home town of Witham, Essex.

Simarco also operates two existing sites in Staffordshire – at Chemical Lane in Stoke and at Barton-under-Needwood.

In February, Reed revealed that the business had secured a 10-year extension on the lease of its headquarters in Witham

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