Halesowen firm's move set in stone
A Halesowen supplier of natural stone flooring products has moved into new premises with the support of a £375,000 financial package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, leading to the recruitment of two new members of staff.
The move has seen Digby Trading, which trades as Digby Stone, secure a four-acre site on Hayseech Road, on which it has built its new headquarters. Designed for enhanced environmental efficiency, the new building comprises office and meeting space, whilst allowing the firm to stock more of its stone flooring range on site.
Prior to the investment, the business operated across three premises but realised the need to centralise its activity in order to make day-to-day running operations more efficient.
Following its relocation, the firm added two new recruits to its 11-strong team, and now plans to purchase a second site during 2016 as it continues to grow.
Formed in 2008, Digby Stone imports its products from India and China, and is a leading supplier in the wholesale of quality natural stone products for use in outdoor landscaping across the UK. The firm has grown year-on-year, now having an annual turnover of £5million.
Claire Digby, director at Digby Stone, said: "Our move into new premises means we can centralise our operations between Felixstowe Port and our clients in the North of the country, as well as providing us with more space to hold our goods."
"We're doubly pleased that our new building has been designed with a host of environmental features, helping us to achieve our sustainability targets, whilst significantly cutting our energy costs. The support and expertise of Lloyds Bank has been invaluable, and we look forward to working closely with the bank as we outline our plans for further growth in our new headquarters."
David Chance, relationship director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: "We're pleased to have worked with Digby Stone to enable its relocation into new premises, and its increase in capacity to hold greater quantities of its goods in one place will provide a boost to the business' operations.
"As part of our plans to help Britain prosper, we have pledged to grow our net lending to SMEs by at least £1billion every year until the end of 2017 so that we can help more businesses start-up, scale up and trade overseas."
