Scottish business Johnstone’s Bakers has invested £100,000 in product development and expansion.

The funding from UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE) has allowed the bakery to purchase additional equipment, create 20 new jobs, and support the development of a new range of Johnstone’s own name branded products.

UKSE’s investment is anticipated to help the East Kilbride-based company to double the factory’s oven capacity to facilitate increasing orders.

Kevin Moore, managing director at Johnstone’s Bakers, said: “UKSE’s confidence in us has given our whole team a huge boost and their service could only be described as excellent. The investment has been fundamental to our expansion drive and we are now able to take our company to the next level with the development of many new products in the pipeline for the current year.”

Scott Webb, regional executive at UKSE, added: “Kevin has taken Johnstone’s Bakers to new heights and UK Steel Enterprise saw this as an exciting investment opportunity. We can see the huge potential in this company and with such a strong presence in the retail sector already, we cannot wait to see where their range of Johnstone’s branded products takes them.”

Moore bought Johnstone’s in 2006, and has since grown the company’s sales turnover by 400% after relocating to larger premises and devising a new business strategy.

Johnstone’s currently exports cake goods to Australia and Germany, with plans to expand this financial year.

UKSE is a subsidiary of Tata Steel Group, set up to help growing companies operating in former steel-producing areas realise their full potential, boost the local economy and create jobs.

The funding package is UKSE’s third business investment in Scotland within the past two months.