CM Downton has scored a hat-trick of renewals worth £3.5m a year, with three paper and packaging industry clients.

The Gloucestershire-based firm saw off fierce competition from rival transport companies to renew its existing contracts with Scandinavian paper manufacturer Holmen Paper; newsprint and magazine paper manufacturer Norske Skog; and plastic packaging manufacturer RPC Promens.

The two-year deal with Holmen Paper sees Downton handling the distribution of all products coming into Sheerness Docks from Holmen Paper’s Scandinavian paper mills to the firm’s customers across the Midlands and the south of England.

Downton’s deal with Norske Skog is for national distribution of the firm’s paper products from Sheerness Docks to various UK print houses.

The third contract, with RPC Promens, runs for a further three years and is worth more than £4m. The contract will see Downton handling all logistics operations out of RPC Promens’ UK manufacturing hub in Deeside, where Downton has a team permanently based at Deeside.

The company will also run the on-site shunting operation.

The renewed contracts closely follow Downton securing three food industry contracts worth £2m a year in November.

Andy Downton, MD of Downton, said: “We finished 2015 strongly with a number of contract wins and extensions and we’ve kicked off the new year in similar fashion – securing important renewals with three key customers.

"Paper, packaging and manufacturing in general are strategic growth areas for Downton and we fully expect to push on from this early success as we continue through the year.”

Downton reported strong levels of growth in its last financial year.

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