A GROWING Shipley dessert-maker has been cited among small manufacturing firms set to benefit from domestic sales in an expanding UK economy.

Just Desserts was among companies questioned in the latest Manufacturing Advisory Service Barometer and reflects sustained confidence enjoyed by the region’s manufacturers.

The handmade dessert specialist has grown 18 per cent over the past year after increasing sales across all its food service customers, with a strong focus on the Asian dessert bar market.

Managing director James O’Dwyer said: “We have come a long way since I started the business with a £40-a-week enterprise allowance grant.

“What we wanted to do was concentrate on creating fantastic-tasting desserts and then set about creating a business model that supported this original philosophy. This has involved developing a high profile brand, a strong distribution network and continued investment in our facilities in Shipley.”

Mr O’Dwyer said that Just Desserts had added 20 new employees in the past year, including a new delivery driver to meet customer demand. The firm now had a 130-strong product range to suit differing customer needs. .

Just Desserts has supplied a number of high street names, including Selfridges and most recently Waterstones’ Café W.

The MAS survey showed that 71 per cent of companies questioned feel that increasing sales at home offered them the best chance to expand.

This was followed by firms looking to improve production processes, introduce new products and 34 per cent focusing on boosting export performance.

It also showed a significant level of confidence in longer-term growth as respondents predicted a 48 per cent rise in collective turnover, with staffing levels expected to increase by 25 per cent over the next four years, equating to thousands of new jobs..

David Caddle, MAS area director, said: “There is significant confidence in the domestic marketplace, at the moment, a further signal that the recovery has taken hold.

“We’ve seen unrivalled investment in the UK automotive industry and that is cascading down the supply chain and creating new opportunities. Our reputation for low-carbon advancement should also be another growth sector and I’m sure our manufacturing SMEs will be in line to take advantage of major infrastructure projects, such as High Speed Rail.

“Despite recent economic surveys reporting a slight dip in manufacturing performance, it appearsthe smaller firms are still confident of growing, especially when you compared the key performance indicators with the figures from last summer.”