Moy Park reveals £27.5M investment

The Northern Ireland based chicken processing company, which now produces 5M chickens per week, revealed the news as it announced its results for the full year to January 2, 2016.

Revenue for its European operations increased by 1.4% to £1.44bn. Underlying profit before taxation hit £111.7M up by 3.5%.

There was strong sales volume growth in both the UK & Ireland of 8% during the period.

Pre-tax profits dropped​

After taking account exceptional items of -£12.5M, pre-tax profits dropped 71% to £9.4M.

This was due, in part, to corporate costs incurred after its purchase for £944M in September 2015 by JBS, the world's largest protein company.

Moy Park said the significant investment in the plants was aimed at securing Moy Park's position as one of the most advanced food manufacturing companies.

‘£170M strategic investment programme’​

“As part of our £170M  strategic investment programme, the company invested £28M in our industry-leading operations, securing Moy Park's position as one of the UK's most advanced food manufacturing companies,”​ said Janet McCollum, chief executive of Moy Park.

“A further £30M was invested in our agricultural base through our farming partners,”​ she added.

“One of the highlights for the business was processing, for the first time, over 5M chickens per week, which is a significant milestone.”​

The company also revealed that its continued focus on food safety, including investment in the Campylobacter reduction strategy, received positive feedback from the UK Food Standards Agency.