Magherafelt blind-makers to create more than 90 new jobs
- Published
John Lewis is one of Bloc Blinds' biggest customers
A County Londonderry-based blind manufacturer is more than doubling its workforce in a £4m investment.
Bloc Blinds of Magherafelt specialises in made-to-measure roller blinds, and its major customers include the John Lewis department store chain.
It currently employs 69 staff but aims to add 93 jobs over the next two years.
The expansion is being supported with a £465,000 grant from Invest NI.
The investment includes new manufacturing facilities and market development activities to help increase export sales.
Cormac Diamond , the firm's managing director, says the move "underpins our ambition to increase sales particularly in Europe and the US".
He said a new manufacturing facility brings all the firm's production under one roof which will "help increase production and operating efficiencies."
Mr Diamond, whose background is in mechanical engineering, founded the business in the depths of the recession.
He developed easy-to-install, customisable blinds and got his first John Lewis order when a buyer spotted the his products at a trade show.