Northern Irish Linden wins Marks and Spencer eco award

Linden Foods, the leading Northern Irish meat processor, has won the 'Wellbeing and Leadership Award' at the recent M&S Plan A 2025 launch in front of leading retailers, suppliers and manufactures from the UK food industry.

Marks & Spencer Plan A 2025 is a new eco and ethical programme, which is an ambitious, customer focused plan that builds on the success of the first 10 years of Plan A and will support 1,000 communities, help 10 million people live happier, healthier lives and convert M&S into a zero-waste business.

Linden, part of Fane Valley Co-operative, of Dungannon, county Tyrone, is a major supplier of meat products to Marks and Spencer.

Speaking at the Plan A 2025 launch Gerry Maguire, Linden Foods managing director, says: "We are extremely humbled to win this prestigious award. We have been working with M&S for over 20 years and we strongly believe that good physical and mental health is good business and our future growth is dependent on fit and well-minded people across all departments from the top down, this focused way of working will see an upturn in performance and productivity and especially higher levels of employee engagement."

Attending the Plan A 2025 launch, Angela Givan, HR director of Linden Foods, adds: "As an ambitious, innovative business we aim to grow our market share and to do so we recognise investment in our staff community is a core fundamental. We believe that our leaders across the business play a pivotal, collaborating role in this fast-paced, competitive sector and have implemented several strategic initiatives in order to address and support all of our people's ongoing wellbeing and development, reinforcing a healthy Linden work environment."

Steve Rowe, chief executive of Marks & Spencer's, continues: "Marks & Spencer has been at the forefront of social change for 133 years and we're determined to play a leading role in the years ahead. Plan A 2025 will help us build a sustainable future by helping our customers live healthier lives, supporting the communities they live in and we source from and looking after the planet we all share. We believe we can engage all of our 32 million customers, 85,000 colleagues and 200,000 shareholders in the plan that becomes a mass voice for sustainable change."