One of the fastest growing businesses in Wales has declared "the world is our oyster" after expanding into a new factory in Newtown.

Hilltop Honey has moved to one of the former Laura Ashley factories on the Vastre Industrial Estate after struggling to cope with demand at the company's former Dyffryn site in Pool Road.

"The world's our oyster," said founder and owner Scott Davies. "We want to go after what's left in the market share and do the best job with the quality of the honey and upskill the local workforce and have a really well renowned honey factory that is extremely good at what it does and it is super efficient."

The new Newtown factory now has the capacity to fill around 75 per cent of the UK's honey demand, said the 34-year-old entrepreneur who started the business 11 years ago in his parents' kitchen in Caersws.

On World Bee Day (Friday, May 20), Scott welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the factory floor and thanked him for the coronavirus Bounce Back Loan that was a "big catalyst" to allow the business to move into its new factory.

County Times: Hilltop Honey factory, Vastre Industrial Estate, Newtown.

Hilltop Honey factory, Vastre Industrial Estate, Newtown.

Scott said: "He was really chuffed that we're employing local people and growing in this area and he had some really good banter with some of the people on the production line. He's definitely not getting a job on our production line anytime soon - he couldn't keep up. It was fine, I'll let him off."

The businessman raised issues about labour shortages, Brexit and trade deals with the Prime Minister during his visit in Newtown for the Welsh Conservative Party spring conference in May.

"I personally feel as a net result of Brexit that labour shortages are quite prevalent for the world to see," he added.

"We are also doing everything that we can to employ a local workforce and employing people who are willing or wanting to work. The Prime Minister alluded to the work shortage across the whole of Europe, never mind the whole of the UK."

Scott added: "I've not seen or felt any benefit from Brexit. We lost Ireland and Northern Ireland to Brexit. Our costs went up by 20 per cent because of the exchange rate. We have massive problems trying to get product into Europe.

"I pushed on the point about when are these trade deals actually happening that are meant to give us competitive advantage over Europe. As we're a company that buys products from all over the world we hope we will be a beneficiary of that.

"We do very well with New Zealand beekeepers and in South America as well. We're trying to push on when those trade deals are happening and he said soon. Sooner rather than later is what I said."

Hilltop Honey made it into the top 20 of Wales’ fastest growing companies, as part of the Fast Growth 50 list which aims to identify the fastest growing businesses in Wales, and celebrate their successes.