News

APS, the contract packaging business, has won a four-year £20m deal with Procter & Gamble (P&G) to pack promotional products, gift sets and displays.

According to The Journal in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Blyth-based APS will employ up to 250 people at one of P&G's consumer goods sites in Essex.

The firm, which has been working with P&G for 22 years, said it would reduce its transport costs by employing staff from the surrounding area and for the first time operate as a "business within a business".

APS managing director Judith Leighton said the firm would send a "hit squad" to P&G's site instead of handling the packaging in Northumberland.

APS expects to increase its turnover by £5m to £15m by 2009 on the back of the deal, which is guaranteed for two years with the option of extending by a further two years.

The firm was set up in 1984 and offers contract packaging of all types of promotional activities and gift sets.

As Packaging News went to press nobody from P&G or APS was available for comment.