THE boss of Blackburn confectionery firm Glisten is moving the company head-quarters closer to his home in Yorkshire but plans to expand its operations in East Lancashire.

The firm, which has five UK bases, is setting up its corporate offices in a new plc centre near Leeds.

But chief executive Paul Simmonds today he revealed the move would not affect the Blackburn confectionery facility, and he revealed plans to expand the business in a move which could bring new jobs to the Hill Street base.

It is hoped that the processes currently used to coat snackfoods can be used instead to create healthy fruit and nut treats, to help the firm move into the lucrative health food market.

Mr Simmonds said: "It has outgrown us in the sense that it has been our plc centre but we no longer have any office space there. The team at Blackburn need space so we are creating what is really our first plc centre and because I live in Yorkshire it's going to be near Leeds.

"The bottom line is we have grown well and absorbed the space. The plc is now a cuckoo in Blackburn's nest. Nothing changes except we are going to have a small head office and that is to be based north of Leeds. It's about growth."

This growth saw Glisten, which received the Business Deal of the Year' gong in last year's Lancashire Evening Telegraph business awards, clock up sales of £14.2million last year. These figures are expected to rise to £40million this year.

Mr Simmonds revealed this rapid expansion is set to mean the Blackburn factory the heart of its confectionery operation will need to expand. Glisten currently employs 700 people across its UK sites.

Mr Simmonds said: "We see the health foods as a good growth area but we need to get the balance right. From a Blackburn point of view there is a lot of confectionery produced there, and we feel strongly that Blackburn does lends itself very well to the way health snacking is developing.

"In Blackburn we coat a lot of fruits and nuts with different coatings, and we see ourselves doing more fruited snacks.

"It isn't going to be health bars instead of confectionery it's going to be healthy snacks produced with confectionery. "Blackburn will be the heart of that.

"I think we expect to extend our facilities over the next couple of years."