£3.7m Investment To Secure Growth For Lurgan Drinks Firm

A Lurgan-based soft drinks manufacturer is set to triple its workforce with an investment of over £3.7 million to drive business growth.

Some 39 new roles will be created at Classic Mineral Water, Ireland's oldest water bottling company, as it boosts capacity and efficiency across the business in the hope of establishing an international company presence and growing sales in Ireland and Great Britain.

The investment is intended to increase sales from the current levels of £2.5 million to £10 million in the next 3-4 years.

The new roles at the firm will be in administration, sales, maintenance and production and will lead to additional salaries of £785,200 per year in the local economy.

Invest Northern Ireland has offered £550,000 of support towards the capital investment.

John Hood, Director of Food & Drink at Invest NI, said: "This investment will allow the company to build on fresh opportunities within the sector and capitalise on the growth of the bottled soft drink business across Ireland and Europe. Along with creating 39 jobs, Classic Mineral Water is introducing new innovative technology to reduce costs and streamline production processes."

Established in 1948, Classic Mineral Water specialises in flavoured water, tonics, plain water, lemonades and water coolers. As the first company in Northern Ireland to achieve Mineral Water Status, it has built up expert knowledge, skills and experience that has allowed for this new growth to become possible.

The company works with high-end retailers, including Tesco, Dunnes Stores, SuperValu, Mace, Centra, Spar and Eurospar.

CEO and Owner at the firm, Liam Duffy, is enthusiastic about the planned growth across all areas of his business.

He said: "We have over 70 years of expertise within the market. We plan to expand on this through innovation and development, delivering growth in export markets by increasing capacity and efficiency, alongside reducing production costs.

"Invest NI's support means we can make the investment quicker and respond to market demand for new products. We are also able to expand our team in Lurgan, developing a strong skillset to help our company succeed as a major competitor in export markets."

The support from Invest NI is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the EU Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme, 2014-2020.