Karro Food Group invests in Northern Ireland for global growth
Pork processor Karro Food Group, which has its biggest manufacturing operation in Northern Ireland, has secured £74 million of new bank funding to support export growth and acquisitions.
Karro Food Group has already begun an £8 million investment at its processing plant at Cookstown in county Tyrone that includes £6.5 million in state-of-the-art chilling and processing technology.
The new funding packaging from GE Capital and RBS Invoice Finance will enable the company to build on this investment to support its UK and international expansion strategy.
Di Walker, Karro's executive chair, commenting on the new financial package, says: "It will increase our financial fire power and inject further momentum into our expansion and acquisition plans both in the UK and internationally.
"Over the last few years Karro has transformed from an internally focused business to one now focused on future growth. This will be evidenced further by our latest accounts, to be announced over the coming weeks, which are set to show a significant underlying improvement in the profitability of the business."
The company is a leading supplier of British pork into the retail, trade and foodservice sectors. It was established as an independent company in January 2013.
The Cookstown operation is among nine Karro sites in the UK employing over 3,000 people. It currently employs around 800 people in Northern Ireland.
As well as Cookstown sausages, one of Northern Ireland's iconic brands, the plant processes fresh pork, bacon, gammon, cooked meats, convenience meals and burgers for the UK, Ireland and further afield including the US and the Middle East.