MORE jobs are on the cards at a leading household products factory – despite the fact it is relocating its head office from Thetford to Cambridgeshire.

Jeyes, which makes toilet cleaners, bleach and other products, has announced that 80 jobs will transfer to a new HQ near Cambridge as part of the relocation planned for next March.

However, the company has also pledged major investment in its Thetford plant.

Jeyes, which moved from east London to Thetford in the 1960s, currently employs 250 people in the town.

However, that number is expected to increase to more than 300 employees as a result of the firm’s plans to relocate its current manufacturing outfits in both Preston, Lancashire, and Mold, in North Wales, to Thetford.

Jeyes’ chief finance officer, Nicholas Goodwin, said the reason for the move was because its current offices were not fit for purpose.

He said that research and development would remain at Thetford, which has a test centre simulating toilets from all over the world, as would its manufacturing operations.

“In Thetford there are more toilets per square foot than any other part of the world,” he said. “The key to this business is innovation in both toilet cleaner and air-freshening products.

“In the next 12 to 18 months we will be investing at Thetford in people, equipment and by buying in knowledge.

“We are looking to grow, and in all markets we want to sell more toilet care products and be a world leader in toilet care.”

Anne Bettridge, group human resources director, said: “After proper consultations with our head office staff in Thetford, we very much hope that around 80 people, the majority of the employees concerned, will operate from the new facilities near Cambridge. Our remaining 40 head office staff will continue to be based in Norfolk.”

As well as research and development, the Thetford Jeyes plant contributes about �30million turnover to the group’s global sales which stood at �210m last year.

The firm is expected to reveal improved profits in results due early next year.