The investment came from the Regional Growth Fund and would see the creation of 200 jobs at the Findus-owned company’s seafood plants in Grimsby. A further 250 jobs will be safeguarded.
Two of Young's three Grimsby fish processing sites would remain open as a result.
It followed yesterday’s (August 13) announcement that Nomad Foods would acquire the Findus Group's European businesses for £500M. However, Young's would remain under the ownership of Findus.
The jobs creation
Young's in figures
- 2,000 employees
- Three Grimsby processing sites
- £100M: the annual estimated value of its Sainsbury contract
- £600M: Young's annual turnover
- £25M: Young's profits last year
Of the jobs creation, Young’s ceo Pete Ward said: “This is a very welcome development. We now need to review the details and discuss this development with the appropriate stakeholders as part of the consultation process taking place following the loss of a contract earlier this year.
“The formal consultation process we are engaged in at our Fraserburgh and Spey Valley sites in Scotland will take at least, as a minimum, 45 days which means that no final decisions, on the next moves that we make, can be taken until the end of August.”
Young’s announced the formal consultation in June after losing a contract to supply Sainsbury with salmon.
The nation’s third largest supermarket dropped its salmon contract with Young’s after agreeing to an offer with a new manufacturer that would supply it with farmed fish.
Ward went on to underline the continued importance of Sainsbury’s business. “Sainsbury remains an important customer for Young’s and we will continue to work together in other categories to deliver great fish and seafood products to Sainsbury’s customers.”
‘Advanced notice to Young’s Seafood’
Sainsbury said it had reviewed its Scottish salmon suppliers to ensure customers were offered the best products possible. “As a result of the supplier tender we have given advance notice to Young’s Seafood that they will no longer pack and process salmon products for us,” a spokeswoman told FoodManufacture.co.uk at the time.
The Sainsbury contract was understood to be worth about £100M a year to Young’s, which had a total turnover of £600M and posted pre-operating profits up by 24% to £25.2M in April this year.
Young’s currently operates three plants in Grimsby, where more than 2,000 workers are employed.
Following the loss of the contract, Young’s announced it would make changes to its leadership and governance structures to better respond to the long- and short-term challenges it faced.
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