NWF Group PLC on Wednesday said its subsidiary Boughey Distribution Ltd acquired a lease for a warehouse in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England for an undisclosed fee.

The Cheshire, England-based distributor of fuel, food and feed said the lease was signed with Aver Property General Partner Ltd and Aver Property Nominee Ltd.

The lease has a 15-year term period with a tenant-only break clause after 12 years and will be supported by a parental guarantee from NWF.

The investment in the 332,000 square feet warehouse follows on from the success of the 240,000 square feet warehouse in Crewe, which opened in 2020.

NWF also said the deal was in line with its strategy for its Food business to target warehouse expansion backed by customer and retailer demand.

It said the newly-constructed warehouse in Newcastle-under-Lyme will increase the capacity of the Food division by 52,000 pallets to 187,000 pallets, supporting ‘strategic growth and ongoing demand from its customers for ambient grocery consolidation and distribution’.

NWF said the fit-out of the warehouse will begin immediately and is expected to be fully-operational by early autumn.

‘We are delighted to start the new calendar year by announcing the signing of the agreement to lease Lymedale. The addition of 52,000 pallet spaces in our Food business allows us to meet the growing demand for our first-class services and will drive further growth in line with our strategy for our Food business,’ said Chief Executive-Designate Chris Belsham.

‘Once opened, we will have nearly doubled our capacity in Food over the last five years and transformed the contribution of the business to the group’s growth and profitability.’

NWF will announce its interim results at the end of the month. Shares rose 4.7% to 225.00 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

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