A SUCCESSFUL Malvern business which has just merged with a larger corporation has pledged to create 40 more jobs when its plans for the future come to fruition.

Morley and Co, a Worcester Road-based firm of independent financial advisers, has joined forces with English Mutual Wealth Management Ltd, an amalgamation of financial advisers.

If the new company realises its ambition of setting up offices in London, Birmingham, Oxford, Bristol and Plymouth, the head office in Malvern will have to expand drastically to co-ordinate its operations.

"We'll have to move out of our present offices but we plan to stay in Malvern as a lot of our business is in the Midlands and the South West," said Alex Morley, business development director at the company.

"Most of our people are in Worcester and Taunton at the moment but we plan to expand and we will need more staff."

Mr Morley said the merger had been mutually beneficial to both organisations and had been welcomed at his company.

"Independent financial advisers need to be large in order to be able to compete. The financial advice market, as in many other markets, is highly competitive and we are very conscious of the costs to our customers."