DCS Group completes £12m head office relocation
One of Warwickshire’s leading companies has switched its national head office to neighbouring Oxfordshire to accommodate growth.
DCS Group, founded by leading entrepreneur Denys Shortt, is the UK’s largest distributor of health, beauty and household brands.
It has relocated from its former head office in Stratford-upon-Avon to a new site in Banbury following a £12m investment.
The 25-acre site, on Noral Way, is close to the M40 so benefits from improved transport connections. It has also easily accommodated the company’s 250 staff and the additional capacity has paved the way for 30 new jobs to be created.
This figure is set to increase as the business expands.
Previously the site was home to the Northern Aluminium Company – one of the UK’s first aluminium factories. In homage to the history of the site, the company commissioned a sculpture of a Spitfire to commemorate it links to the past and this now takes pride of place at the entrance to the new facility.
DCS Group was founded in 1994 by Mr Shortt. The business opened its first commercial premises in Stratford upon Avon in 2001 before adding a manufacturing plant in 2005. Manufacturing will continue at the Stratford upon Avon site, where the business continues to employ 100 staff.
The company boasts some of the world’s biggest companies as suppliers including Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate, PZ Cussons, Reckitt Benkiser and SC Johnson and it delivers to more than 500 retail chains and wholesalers in the UK. In 1998, the company established its own label beauty brand ‘Enliven’ which is today is exported to over 75 countries around the world.
Mr Shortt said: “The continued growth of the company resulted in the need to find a new site to ensure we had a platform on which to maximise the future potential of the company.”
The new centre was officially opened by the chairman of Barclays Corporate Banking Division, Kevin Wall.
He said: “The growth of the DCS Group since its inception in 1994 has been very impressive and something that Denys and his team can be proud of. I was delighted to be asked to officially open the premises today and wish the company my best wishes for their future success.”
The company has an ambitious strategic plan for future growth and aims to become a £300m company in the next five years and create employment opportunities for a further 50 people.
