Bosses at a toilet roll and kitchen towel factory hope to create 50 new jobs and double capacity thanks to a multi-million pound investment. Leicester Tissue Company (LTC) has secured £6 million of funding from HSBC UK to carry out its growth plans. The business, which is currently operating at full capacity, is installing two new production lines that will be up and running later this year at its 105,000 sq ft plant in Thurmaston.
LTC currently produces 20,000 tonnes of tissue a year and supplies big retailers including Poundland, Aldi and Wilkinsons. Once the new lines are running, LTC will generate an extra 20,000 tonnes of tissue per year, enabling the business to fulfil new interest from several supermarket brands. In the next 12 months, it hopes to increase annual turnover by 90 per cent to £38 million.
The number of jobs on the production floor will double to around 100, while the overall number of staff will go up from around 70 to around 120. The business only launched in 2014 and relocated to an industrial estate in Westmoreland Avenue early in 2018.
Managing director Ayaz Tejani said: “As a manufacturer for some of the UK’s leading retail brands, it’s important that we regularly invest in new machinery to meet high consumer demands. We have a long-term vision for growth and these plans are currently underway with the installation of the new production lines. We’re incredibly grateful to our HSBC UK relationship director Richard Parker who understood our business and funding requirements. We look forward to working closely with him again as the business grows”.
Roger Pratt, HSBC area director for corporate banking in East Midlands, said: “HSBC UK is committed to supporting ambitious SMEs (small and medium enterprises) with their expansion plans, and LTC is no exception. The tissue market is extremely competitive and due to rising consumer demand, Ayaz and his team have a great opportunity to grow the business. We’re excited about the business’s potential and we wish them the best for the future”.
The business currently buys in its paper on big reels on the open market before converting into smaller rolls. In 2022 management hope to invest a further £25 million in their own paper mill – in the north of the county – giving greater control over the production process.
The business was launched by chairman and chief executive Amin Tejani whose family made millions in 2010 when they sold an earlier £300 million turnover tissue business called Leicester Paper Company, in Hamilton, to Italian giant Sofidel. His son and chief financial officer Ayaz Tejani is responsible for the day-to day running of the business.