A COMPANY is setting up a logistics and distribution headquarters which will create 76 jobs.

Amaro Professional Distribution Ltd will establish the base at its 10,500sq ft premises on the Metro Riverside Park, which it moved to last December.

The company secured a £140,000 Regional Selective Assitance grant from One NorthEast to fund the latest development.

Amaro has 150 full-time staff and is planning to employ hundreds more as it expands its regional distribution network to cover other areas of the UK. The company makes one million deliveries a month, a target it hopes to hit each week.

The firm, which has a policy of employing staff locally, specialises in rapid mail delivery to customers from the Scottish Borders to North Yorkshire for clients including local authorities, health authorities and retailers.

The company was formed in 1997 by Robert Greener in the Blaydon Business Centre.

The firm has installed computer software to allow mail vans and leaflet drops to be tracked to the point of delivery.

Mr Greener, Amaro managing director, said: "This month, we hit the 150th full-time employee mark and just nine months after moving into our new home, we are looking for a 40,000sq ft premises to consolidate our North-East operation.

"The RSA grant enabled us to move to Amaro House at the Metro Riverside Park. We have now revised our expansion plans and we hope to employ up to 1,000 people locally in the North-East and replicate this across other regions of the UK."