Antrim-based manufacturer SAM Mouldings has won a £10m contract to provide Wickes with a range of products.
The four-year deal will see the company supply primed MDF mouldings, wood veneer mouldings, skirting boards and architraves to the DIY retailer. The products will be distributed to over 200 outlets across Great Britain through established supplier SCA.

SAM Mouldings plans to create 14 new jobs across its production and sales functions over the next three months to deal with the boost in business.

The company says that assistance provided by Invest NI, which supports business development in Northern Ireland, played a significant role in helping it clinch the deal. It has included mentoring sessions and workshops to help the company strengthen its management team and identify new sales opportunities. Invest NI has also offered SAM Mouldings £21,600 to support recruitment for two new managerial positions.

SAM Mouldings managing director Richard Holmes said the new business represented "a great win for our team and will support our long-term strategy to grow the business through channels such as these.

"The assistance we received from Invest NI, particularly with re-evaluating our sales strategy, was invaluable to us and it has played a major role in helping us to secure this contract. We're now positioned more competitively to identify and take advantage of future business opportunities across Great Britain and Europe."

Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton described SAM Mouldings as "a progressive and quality-conscious business which has focused on measures to mitigate the challenging trading environment that many of our construction-related firms are currently facing".

SAM Mouldings is a family company that was formed in 1990 and which currently employs 81 people in its purpose-built Antrim factory. It exports a broad range of wood-based products to Great Britain, Ireland, Holland and Belgium.