Paper giant defies tough market with £120m turnover

Northwood & WEPA, which has its commercial headquarters in Bolton and supplies more than 600 million toilet and kitchen paper rolls to the UK retail sector a year, has reported turnover of £120m for 2017, up 5% on the previous year.

The news follows a significant period of investment for the firm, which recently installed £21m of state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment at its production facility in Bridgend, South Wales.

Employee numbers across the company have risen 5% to 284 staff in the period.

Mike Docker, managing director at Northwood & WEPA, said: “We’ve come up against an unusual set of challenging market conditions this year. Rising inflation, a weak pound and a 30% increase in pulp prices has impacted all paper suppliers hard.

“Our resilience in the face of these testing circumstances is down to our unrivalled experience in the sector. Strong partnerships with key customers and suppliers, unique paper making capabilities and a robust converting process mean we have been able to face these pressures head on and successfully navigate through them.

“The strategic investment we’ve put into our people and facilities is the root of this success, which will see us continue to grow into 2018 and beyond. It’s a fantastic testament to our hard-working team.”