A MAJOR expansion has been announced by a Basildon business which is growing on the back of the rise of discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl.

Rowan International is investing £1.3million to expand operations at its site in Endeavour Drive.

The wholesaler plans to build two new warehouses and extra offices. It also plans to spend more than £50,000 on a powerful generator which can supply the whole site as an emergency back-up. An extra 25 parking spaces will also be added at the site, with work expected to be completed in February, when the company also says it will be recruiting more staff.

Malcolm Buckley, Basildon councillor responsible for regeneration, said: “It’s always good news to hear a Basildon business is prospering, and when it brings new jobs, that’s an added bonus for the borough.

We’re very pleased to hear the distribution centre is expanding.”

The £1.3million expansion will also include new £250,000 storage racks in the existing warehouse.

Martyn Andrews, the centre’s logistics director, said: “We’ve needed to expand for a while. We increased our storage capacity earlier this year, but it soon became apparent this wasn’t enough.”

The company’s expansion is in response to the growing popularity of discount grocery stores, a sector which is expected to carry on growing, expanding by almost 65 per cent within the next four years.

Rowan International chief executive Alan Saywell said: “This new investment underlines our commitment to high service levels both for our customers and our suppliers. We also needed extra office and parking space for our growing team.

“The discount channel is booming and our warehouse expansion is key to us responding to this growth.”