Fruit sauce maker’s smoothie move

MERSEYSIDE food manufacturer Fruitapeel has bought the assets of a South Wales-based company from administration for an undisclosed sum.

Fruitapeel purchased the premises, machinery and brand name of Sunjuice in Llantrisant after securing funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland.

The former juice and smoothie manufacturer closed in January with the loss of 120 jobs, when its parent company Serious Food went into administration.

Fruitapeel will restart production at the 29,000 sq ft factory later this year in a move that will create 25 jobs at the Llantrisant site. The company plans to double the number of staff at the site to 50 within the next two years. 

Established just three years ago, Fruitapeel, which has a £4m turnover, provides sauces and filings for ice creams, frozen desserts and bakery products for clients including Heinz, Cadbury and Tate & Lyle.      

Terry Haigh, managing director of Fruitapeel, said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with the administrators to acquire the former site and capital equipment of Sunjuice.

“Since the company went into administration there has been a gap in the UK market for chilled juices and retailers have been forced to import more stock from abroad. We plan to restart production before the end of this year and are confident we can meet this demand.”