Greencore to boost US business with new factory
The new plant will enable Greencore USA to service its existing customers in New England and to develop new business opportunities closer to New York. As part of the plan, the manufacturer will close its facilities in Newburyport and Brockton, Massachusetts between April and September 2015. Employees will be offered roles at the new facility, which will create up to 370 jobs.
Savings estimated at £5M
Scheduled to open in spring 2015, the 9,230m2 site will feature a modular design to enable future expansion. It will also result in manufacturing and distribution savings estimated at £5M.
Patrick Coveney, ceo, said the new factory would help to prepare the business for the next stage of its US expansion. “We are delighted to announce the development of a new food-to-go facility in Rhode Island,” said Coveney. “This investment will significantly enhance our capability and capacity to serve the sandwich market in the north eastern region of the US, and will also enable us to drive further growth with current customers.
Delivering this project will represent an important milestone as we continue to build a strong, growing, profitable food-to-go business in the USA.”
Estimated at £20M
The cost of building and equipping the new factory is estimated at £20M and will be incurred over the next 15 months. Greencore also said it will register a non-cash impairment of assets in its financial year 2014 of £8M after the closure of its Newburyport and Brockton sites.
Cash exit and start-up costs were estimated at £3M.
Greencore will report its interim results for the half year to March 28 2014 on May 20.
Meanwhile, Covenney told FoodManufacture.co.uk last December that the firm planned to build or acquire new production facilities in the US to help realise its growth ambitions.
Greencore aimed to grow its US food-to-go sales into a business worth between $0.5M and $1bn over the next five years.
About two-thirds of the manufacturer’s business is with Starbucks and Seven-11 – with strong growth in demand expected from both customers.
