Stiller Warehousing and Distribution has invested £ 550,000 in new vehicles after seeing sales grow to £ 16.1m in 2020 .
BY MARTIN WALKER
JOBS DRIVE
Stiller recruiting 25 new roles as sales grow to £ 16.1m
A
logistics company is on a recruitment drive in response to an increase in demand after seeing its turnover grow in 2020 .
Stiller Warehousing and Distribution , based on Aycliffe Business Park in Newton Aycliffe , is creating 25 new positions which it aims to fill by the end of March .
Positions include HGV drivers , fork lift drivers , administrative roles in transport operations and customer service representatives .
The raft of new roles , which would boost Stiller ’ s staff numbers to 180 , comes after the firm ’ s sales grew to £ 16.1m last year , up from £ 15.2m in 2019 .
Stiller has leased two warehouses – one in Newton Aycliffe and another in Spennymoor – totalling 122,000 sq ft , to capitalise on the surge in demand for its services .
Managing director Matthew Stiller said : “ Our increase in sales is down to the two additional warehouses and an upturn in our transport business .
“ We have taken on new work for ecommerce packaging suppliers and additional transport business for clients that e-retail bulky products requiring a full UK delivery service .
“ We ’ re forecasting the full-year effect of that increased activity to be £ 16.5m for 2021 .”
Stiller saw an initial drop in sales during the first lockdown , but saw a significant bounceback in the second half of the year .
“ We ’ ve had big operational challenges just like all businesses have had in 2020 ,” added Matthew .
“ Dealing with a huge drop in work levels in April during the first lockdown , followed by a corresponding rebound , was challenging to manage .
“ I also cannot overstate the huge influence Amazon ’ s ecommerce market share has had on the third-party logistics sector . In most weeks , deliveries to their fulfilment centres is eclipsing all supermarket distribution centres combined .”
Stiller secured a deal to store and distribute over half a million bottles of sanitiser gel per month which are being produced by nearby INEOS .
INEOS launched a new global healthcare firm , INEOS Hygienics , last summer , following the runaway success of its new hand sanitiser plants .
Its first sanitiser production facility in
Those interested in applying for jobs at Stiller can visit stiller . co . uk or email info @ stiller . co . uk .
Newton Aycliffe was established in less than ten days and went on to produce millions of bottles of sanitisers free of charge to the NHS and thousands of hospitals , at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus .
Stiller has since distributed more than 50,000 gallons of the gel around the UK from its Aycliffe HQ , contributing hugely to the national fight against Covid-19 .
Matthew added : “ This latest recruitment campaign will help us not only maintain our service standards but also to further improve on them .
“ It ’ s a somewhat challenging environment to be recruiting in at the moment , but it ’ s very positive that we ’ re increasing the size of our team and we expect to see further growth in 2021 .”
Stiller has also invested £ 550,000 in 14 new HGV trailers and three new trucks , which will also increase the firm ’ s capacity .
It takes the company ’ s investment in property , facilities and people to around £ 12m in the last six years .
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 23