AN office chair firm is sitting pretty after clinching a deal to supply 1,500 seats to the Food Standards Agency.

Dauphin plc, based in Peter Street, Blackburn, and headed by managing director Alan Verrinder, clinched the deal for an undisclosed amount to provide chairs for the Agency's new head offices in central London.

It was won in the face of intense competition from rival firms. The contract is part of ambitious expansion plans by the company, which employs around 70 staff, following a buyout in 1999.

Bosses said the Agency contract was the "cherry on the cake" of a successful 12 months which saw the company grow 20 per cent.

Previous deals include one to supply chairs for all 626 Euro MEPs in Strasbourg.

In March 1999 Dauphin was sold by its owners Calderburn to Daco, part of German-based group, in a £1.75 million deal.

Calderburn was formed in 1991 by the merger of East Lancashire office furniture groups Alan Cooper and Mayfield which produced office seating under the Dauphin tradename.