Green Isle Foods invest €22.6m in Naas expansion

A €22.6 million expansion investment by Green Isle Foods Ltd at their plant in Naas, Co Kildare is set to create 130 new jobs.

The development which is due to begin production in Autumn 2005, is supported by Enterprise Ireland and will lead to the creation of the new jobs from a current base at Naas of approximately 630.

The development will see the construction of a new bakery and the fit out of this facility as well as some capital expenditure on the existing topping and packing line, which has spare capacity.

Speaking at the Green Isle plant in Naas Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin said: "The importance of Research and Development in driving new jobs, sales and exports is clearly demonstrated in this project. Following extensive market research, Green Isle, with the assistance of an Enterprise Ireland Research Technology and Innovation (RTI) grant, committed R & D funding to investigate expanded pizza production and enhanced manufacturing processes.

“That research commitment has led to a major expansion which will generate projected sales of €35m and exports of €23.5m over the next five years. The challenge of winning new sales in highly competitive global markets cannot be underestimated. Growing productivity and controlling costs will be critical in achieving and sustaining the competitiveness needed to win such ambitious international sales.”

Kieran Carolan, Managing Director of Green Isle Foods, added: "This is an ambitious expansion by Green Isle Foods and we wish to acknowledge the contributions of Enterprise Ireland and Kildare County Council in making this investment happen. This is an exciting development and we have every confidence in the continued growth of the business".

Established in 1982, Green Isle was acquired by Northern Foods in 1996 which operates in the chilled convenience foods, frozen foods and biscuits sectors.

Pizza accounts for 65% of the company's turnover, making Green Isle the leading player in the UK and Irish frozen pizza markets with the majority of its Goodfellas pizza product exported to the UK.

(MB/SP)