Business

McBride, the producer of private label laundry, household cleaning and personal care products and packaging, hopes to expand its UK operations by taking over a former Remploy factory near St Helens.

The firm has moved into the Lea Green factory with a small number of staff, but plans to build up the facility over the next few years, with the aim eventually of employing 100 people.

St Helens North MP Dave Watts said McBride had taken out a 16-year lease on the factory to 2024 and was looking to grow "as quickly as possible".

The site will initially make a limited range of household and personal care products from some of McBride's other UK sites.

Once the firm has assessed the capabilities of the site, it is expected that it will use the factory to expand.

There are currently 12 people at the site, some of whom are former Remply staff.

McBride has six UK sites in Barrow, Burnley, Middleton, Hull, Bradford and Bampton.

In total it has 15 manufacturing sites in six countries and a group turnover of £500m.