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Armagh-based pig producers Jim and Mark Wright are behind the proposed development of a new £75m pig slaughter facility on the site of the old Lovell and Christmas factory outside Ballymoney in Co Antrim.
Reports suggest that the new factory will process cull sows, which will be an important development for the local pig industry given the lack of an outlet for cull sows in NI at present.
Most currently travel to either the Republic of Ireland or Britain for slaughter.
The company taking forward the planning application with Causeway and Glens Borough council is Bann Side Foods Ltd., which was incorporated on 5 May 2021, and lists the Wright brothers, along with Andrew Irwin as the three directors.
Irwin was a senior manager with Karro before joining the Wright business, and is a director in a number of their companies, including JMW Farms Ltd, which operates pig units and a feed mill in NI.
The group of Wright-owned companies, which include pig production sites in the Republic of Ireland and Britain, and also an AD facility in NI, is ultimately controlled by Darton Hall Holdings Ltd.
The last accounts to end of September 2019 showed it had a turnover of £64m, and a profit before tax of £3m.
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