A TRAINING and recruitment company has doubled turnover within its first year of trading, and now aims to push through the £7m barrier in its second year.

Premium People has doubled the size of its headquarters, in Peterlee, County Durham, and will have doubled the size of its workforce to 18 by the end of the financial year.

The firm has recently opened an office in Stanley, County Durham, and is on course to open other offices in the next few months, including one in the Tees Valley and another in Newcastle. Premium People specialises in recruitment for the industrial, commercial and contact sectors and was formed by managing director Paul Boyes.

He said: "Since Premium People was started in August, our turnover has doubled. We have enjoyed rapid growth and have diversified into new markets.

"The company is going from strength to strength. The investment my company has made in technology, together with the extra work space and state-of-the-art training room, has opened up huge opportunities to compete nationally for major new contracts. By May 2008, we will have doubled in size and our revenue will have grown by 150 per cent."