A Cleckheaton sweets company is moving into television with the launch of a £3 million advertisement.

Lion Confectionery, famous for Midget Gems, is going from strength to strength, despite having to sell alongside giants such as Mars.

From September, their Sports Mixture range of sweets will be appearing on screens and the company will be taking on more staff to cope with demand.

Managing Director, Steven Argyle, said they had no plans to expand, but there was a plot of land behind the factory which was available. "We already have a staff of between 60 and 65 here, but we aim to take on between six and ten new staff to work in manufacturing. We are also hoping to recruit a senior marketing manager.

"This is a huge step for us as we are a relatively small confectionery company compared with some of the larger names, but I am confident we can only get better.

"We don't sell in London, but that's because we're not yet known in London. This will spread our name."

The advert will be shown in Yorkshire and also the south, where Lion is less well known. This is the first time the company, based in West-gate, has advertised on televi-sion.

Already this year, they had spent £50,000 on re-search to find out what makes the Sports Mixture so popular.

Last year, as well as gaining Investors in People status, they enjoyed a 14 per cent growth and Mr Argyle anticipates that will increase by a further 30 per cent this year.

Lion do not export their sweets internationally, but have found that that a lot of ex-patriots in like Canada and Cyprus ordered them through the Internet.