Food manufacturer Winterbotham Darby has extended its contract with Fowler Welch for three years, after just one year of working together.

The extension will see Fowler Welch store, pick and despatch bakery products to Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose and Morrisons from Winterbotham Darby’s facility in Portsmouth. Stock is produced in France and shipped across the Channel to the south coast town.

Ian Render, operations manager at Winterbotham Darby, said: “In the last 12 months, Fowler Welch has proved itself a reliable, flexible, storage and distribution solution for us.”

The initial contract, signed in May 2012,  saw Fowler Welch store, pick and dispatch in excess of 5 million cases per year from its facility at  Paddock Wood,  Kent.

He added that the Portsmouth-based service will be “intensive” and place “high demands ion the supply chain” building on its year-long relationship with the firm.

Topics