Multimillion-pound investment helps Daventry cat and dog food makers feed '10 pets per second'

Butcher's Pet Care, headquartered in Crick, was handed £12.5million by Lloyds Bank, which it put towards buying new machinery - increasing its production facilities by 50 per cent.

The third-generation, family-run business began in a butcher's shop in Rugby in the 1960s and has since grown to be one of the largest pet food manufacturers in the UK, producing over six million packs of cat and dog food each week.

Francis Powell, finance director at Butcher’s Pet Care, said: “The last few years have seen us enjoy significant growth and almost triple our annual turnover since 2005.

"We’ve calculated that we feed about ten pets per second and we look forward to seeing this figure increase.

“As our recent investment demonstrates, we’re continually looking to invest in our products to meet the changing needs of our customers.

“The team at Lloyds Bank were a great help throughout the whole process. Not only did they provide a tailored funding package that was exactly suited to our needs, but they were always on hand to act as a sounding board for new ideas.”

Butcher's Pet Care, established in 1987, put the funding towards rebranding its packaging.

The investment is part of a three-year programme, which has increased international revenue by 28 per cent.

Eleven countries import the pet food with the highest number of exports going to Poland.

The company employs 300 people and its original recipe is sold by major retailers, including Tesco’s, Morrisons and Waitrose.

Andy Dunlop, relationship director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Butcher’s is a successful and fast-growing business and the retail value of the pet care market in the UK is booming.

"It’s great to see the business tapping into new and emerging opportunities, investing back into the market, and boosting profits.

“Ambitious mid-sized businesses like Butcher’s Pet Care are a vital part of the UK economy.

To help even more firms across Britain to prosper we’ve launched a new £500million growth fund to help businesses to boost productivity by investing in new machinery.”