Great British Brands: Screwfix plans to create 900 jobs
Chancellor welcomes Screwfix plans to create 900 jobs and open over 50 new stores in 2015 as part of his tour of Great British Brands.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, today (Thursday 4 September) welcomed Screwfix’s announcement to open over 50 new stores in 2015, creating over 900 new jobs.
The announcement came as the Chancellor visited the company’s Cannock store.
It comes less than six months after Screwfix announced it will open 60 new stores during 2014, creating a further 900 jobs and follows on from the opening of 60 new stores and creation of 1,000 new jobs in 2013.
The visit formed the second leg of the Chancellors Great British Brands tour aimed at supporting some of Britain’s best known companies who are all today making announcements aimed at job creation, helping people into work, driving exports, and making the UK a leader in science and innovation.
Screwfix, which recently opened its 360th store, serves over 4 million customers and employs over 6,000 staff. The company recently announced its plans to expand overseas in Germany with four trial stores opening this month.
George Osborne said:
Screwfix is a great British success story and it is fantastic to see them expanding and creating new jobs.
Backing businesses who are expanding is a key part of our long term economic plan which is why I have cut corporation tax, introduced the employment allowance, and abolished National Insurance contributions for the Under 21s.
These changes are helping companies like Screwfix create jobs and the economic security that comes with that.
Andrew Livingston, Screwfix CEO said:
We’re thrilled to welcome the Chancellor to our Screwfix store in Cannock as part of his tour of Great British Brands and are proud to be a successful British business.
At Screwfix we have seen increasing optimism among our trade customers for some time now, which not only represents potential growth across the industry, but also increasing employment opportunities in all sectors, which is great news for the UK economy as a whole.