There is a new player in the processing sector in NI with Dunbia announcing this week that it has sold its pig processing business in Ballymena to Hull-based Cranswick plc in a cash sale.

The company has sites mainly in the northeast, and the east of England, with two primary processing facilities in Hull and Norfolk, with a combined pig kill of approximately 40,000 head per week.

Cranswick also supplies poultry based products, and in March 2016 reported revenue of just over £1bn and profit before tax of £65.7m. In July 2016, it sold its sandwich business to the Irish-based Greencore group for a reported £15m.

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Commenting on the deal, Adam Couch, CEO of Cranswick, said that the acquisition strengthens the company’s pork processing business and gives it more control over its supply chain.

As part of the arrangement, Dunbia executive director Jack Dobson is to work with Cranswick in a consultancy capacity to ensure a smooth transition.

Dunbia acquired the factory from Stevensons and Co in 2009, effectively preventing its closure.

Since then, it has invested in the business, and currently slaughters around 7,800 pigs per week. In the year to 29 March 2016, revenues were £72.4m.

However, in 2015, Dunbia lost its contract to supply pork to Sainsbury’s, effective from the summer of 2016, when the business moved to Karro. That contract had been in place since 2009 and had been a major factor in the original decision to take on the Stevenson factory. It is therefore no great surprise that Dunbia has decided to sell, although it still retains ownership of a facility in England slaughtering sows, and will still continue to retail pack pork products.

In the background, there have also been talks with various parties about new investment into the wider business, although as yet, nothing definitive has emerged.

Focus

On enquiry, Dunbia group chief executive Jim Dobson told the Irish Farmers Journal that it is business as usual for the rest of the company. “Our focus will return to beef and lamb. It is what we do and we continue to take it forward,” he said.

He also acknowledged that losing the Sainsbury’s business had been an issue, and that getting access for NI pork products to China would have helped.

“In processing you need a customer to grow and develop with. Without that, if there is over-supply, where do you go?” he said.