Cranswick to invest £4m in acquisition
Food group Cranswick is investing a total of £4m in its Irish pork processor acquisition, Dunbia Ballymena.
Cranswick acquired the £72m-turnover Northern Irish business in November 2016, and now the Belfast Telegraph has revealed it will invest a total of £4m in the business.
Cranswick CEO Adam Couch said it had already invested £2m in the business, with a further £2m planned, to increase capacity at the processing plant in Co. Antrim.
It wants to process 14,000 pigs a week, compared to the current numbers of 8,000.
Couch told the Belfast Telegraph: “We acquired it in November last year, and we have already spent over £2m in flows, production, butchery and the packing hall. In the next 18 months it will be another £2m.
“We have a good strong workforce… we have increased automation. We are looking to see how far we can grow the pig numbers.
“The staff are very knowledgeable. A more seamless transition I don’t think we have had.”
Cranswick has undertaken an aggressive growth strategy in recent years, having acquired major acquisitions in the form of Dunbia Ballymena and Crown Chicken in a £40m deal over the past year. It sold its sandwich business in July 2016 for £15m as it looks to focus on its meat processing businesses.
