Poultry processing company Moy Park has been placed first in a list of the top 100 companies in NI for the fifth year in a row. Companies from across all sectors in NI were ranked in terms of turnover in the list published in Ulster Business magazine.

Turnover at Moy Park grew by 1.4% from £1.388bn to £1.407bn in 2015. Profit before taxation and exceptional costs in 2015 increased by 2% to £45.5m at Moy Park, but profit before taxation with exceptional costs fell from £32.3m in 2014 to £9.4m last year. Last June, Brazilian food company JBS acquired the Craigavon-based poultry processor from Marfrig Global Foods for £945m.

Dunbia

Second in the table with sales of £826m is Dungannon-based red meat processor Dunbia. The most recent accounts available for 2014/15 show that the meat processor, owned by brothers Jim and Jack Dobson, showed an 8% increase in pre-tax profits to £6.5m.

In April, speculation emerged that Dunbia is in line to merge with Birmingham-headquartered 2 Sisters Food Group, following Dunbia announcing last December that it was seeking expressions of interest from investors.

W&R Barnett

With turnover of £815m, Belfast-based grain trader W&R Barnett was placed third in the list. W&R Barnett is a holding company with several joint ventures operating with Origin Enterprises PLC, including R & H Hall, John Thompson & Sons and Goulding (NI). For the 2014/15 financial year, pre-tax profits stood at £29.8m, down 6% on previous year levels.

This the first time in the 27 years of the Top 100 Companies List that companies from the agri-food sector have taken the top three positions.

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Agri-food dominates Northern Ireland's largest companies list

Companies from the agri-food sector took the top three positions for the first time in a list of largest companies in Northern Ireland published this week.