2 Sisters to spend £55M on ready meals boost

22-Sep-2015 - Last updated on 23-Sep-2015 at 10:19 GMT

2 Sisters invests £55 million to drive growth of ready meals, soup and sauces division

2 Sisters Food Group plans to rebuild a key manufacturing site as a part of a £55M investment to expand its ready meals, soups and sauces division.

The £38M reconstruction of 2 Sisters’ Pennine Foods factory in Sheffield will be completed at the end of 2017, expanding capacity and safeguarding more than 800 jobs.

The rest of the investment will be pumped into the refurbishment of factories in Carlisle and Rogerstone in South Wales.

Own-label M&S products

All three factories mainly make own-label ready meals, soups and sauces for Marks & Spencer.

Investment at a glance

£55M in ready meals, soups and sauces division
£38M rebuild of Pennine Foods in Sheffield
Refurbishment of Carlisle and Rogerstone factories

2 Sisters divisional md Simon Wookey said its chilled division was outpacing the average growth of the chilled ready meals’ sector as a whole.

“We continue to see an opportunity to drive further market share growth in the ready meal sector supported by a new state of the art factory in Sheffield,” Wookey said.

“It will also create significant opportunities to improve the way we operate as a business, whilst also helping to safeguard and potentially create jobs in all our factories.”

Established in 1986, Pennine has reached full capacity and some of this capacity will be transferred to Carlisle and Rogerstone factories from April 2016.

‘Drive further profitability’

2 Sisters said the Sheffield site will develop new ranges and processes in order to “support continued innovation, expand capacity and drive further profitability”.

Marks & Spencer director of food technology Paul Willgoss welcomed the significant investment by 2 Sisters which he described as a “key supplier” for the retailer.

“It supports our growth plans and will help us continue to deliver the highest quality and innovation in our products,” Willgoss said.

Meanwhile, the parent company for 2 Sisters has replaced Associated British Foods as the UK’s largest food and drink manufacturer, according to an index of 150 firms.

Boparan Holdings topped a food and soft drink ranking produced by OC&C Strategy Consultants in collaboration with Food Manufacture's sister title The Grocer.