POOLE’S cosmetics giant Lush is planning to open a new factory to ease the pressure on its local operation after recording phenomenal growth.

The high street chain, founded in Poole High Street almost 21 years ago, saw growth of 33 per cent from 2013-15.

It has been focusing on opening stores in prime locations with high turnover potential – including a flagship store in London’s Oxford Street, run by Claire Constantine, daughter of Poole-based co-founders Mark and Mo Constantine.

The company reported: “In manufacturing, our seven facilities around the world have been stretched producing over 124million items, an increase of 49 per cent on last year; this was particularly felt in the UK, which supplies 33 of our international markets and also had the additional responsibility of testing, manufacturing and supplying the new products for Oxford Street.

“To ease the pressure on the UK facility, we will open a new factory in Dusseldorf, Germany, which will supply most mainland Europe markets by the end of the 2015-16 financial year.”

A Lush spokesperson told the Daily Echo: "As a rapidly expanding global business, it seems appropriate to have another local supply centre to support the staffing and production demand on our factories in Poole which, along with our Croatian factory, currently supplies 531 shops in 42 countries.

"The new factory in Germany will alleviate some of this pressure by looking after mainland Europe and ensuring our customers there continue to get the freshest product possible."

Lush said in its annual accounts that it saw growth 65 per cent in the US and 51 per cent in the UK, but suffered a 19 per cent decline in Japan, its third biggest market.

The retailer had 933 shops around the world at the end of its financial year last June.

Lush said it had also made a “major advancement in cosmetic science” with the launch of self-preserving products, including moisturiser, lip balm and Christmas shower gel, with more in the pipeline.

It said investment in training had paid off, with the company coming top of the Which? Customer Service Awards, announced in October.

Lush partners worldwide raised £7.95m and donated £6.3m to charities and other good causes, with almost £5m donated by the Lush Group and associated companies.

Lush said its total brand turnover was up 26 per cent to £574.1m in the year in question. Its UK business saw like-for-like growth of more than 30 per cent in 10 of the 12 months in question.