A TOWN centre company is aiming to create 700 jobs and boost its turnover by £30million.

The Westgrove Group, a commercial cleaning and security specialist, has revealed its ambitious plans this week.

The award-winning company is spearheaded by entrepreneurs Steve Fives and Simon Whittle who set-up the firm 15 years ago.

Based at Centre Park in Warrington, it works with shopping centres, sports stadiums and corporate enterprises and currently has a turnover of £17m.

Mr Fives said: “The immediate platform to take us to the next level is £20m plus.

“We are planning to expand our workforce by around 300 positions this year as we secure an additional 50 plus contracts.

“We anticipate growth in the region of 50 per cent over the next two years with an employee head count of around 1,700.

“This will be through sustained natural growth by expanding our business model into key vertical markets and also identifying potential acquisition targets.

“It’s time to take the next step and catapult Westgrove into a new stratosphere of dual service cleaning and security providers.”

He added: “We are already one of the leading independent operators in the UK and we’re looking to be a viable alternative to the ‘big boys’; the PLCs that dominate our industry.

“We’ve never needed a sales team before as the business was built on recommendations.

“But it’s time to take the next step. We’re independent, wholly owned by our founding directors and primed for growth.

“In the next few years we’re determined to become a £30m business and maybe more.”

Among their innovative business plan is a ‘Colleagues of Tomorrow’ scheme - asking potential employees to meet existing bosses to see if they can work well in the company.

Steve added: “The key driver was and always will be looking after our colleagues and integrating them into our business. We felt that if we could achieve this, the end product would be great staff continuity - the bedrock of our success - with loyalty to our brand.

“Westgrove has less than a 10 per cent staff turnover compared to an industry norm of 75 per cent so our business model is proving to be hugely beneficial.”