Hard times in agri-food sector

Non-executive chairman: Trefor Campbell

Employment: 8,699

Turnover: £669.6m

Loss: £10.8m

Moy Park is Northern Ireland’s largest food processing company and one of Europe’s leading poultry companies. The company offers arange of chicken products to retail and food service customers across Europe.

Operations are based in Northern Ireland, England, France and Holland. Moy Park is a Northern Ireland-registered company which is a whollyowned subsidiary of the American OSI Corporation. It is also the subsidiary into whose accounts are consolidated other OSI subsidiaries.

Moy Park has reached its leading position through substantial investments at its plants and by responding to consumer trends with innovative products. The company prides itself in its involvement in the farming industry which underpins success in the agriculture division. This division supplies hatching eggs to a significant proportion of the total European market. In addition to standard chicken, the company is recognised as one of Europe’s largest growers of organic, free range and corn fed birds.

The company’s development took a major leap forward in 2004 with the acquisition of two major English chicken processing companies which are being integrated into Moy Park. The financial results reflect the significant investment expense of integrating these businesses. More recently raw material inflation has driven feed price increases which are having a dramatic effect on the cost base of the entire industry.

Moy Park has won tributes for its business and community activities. These include charity donations and sponsorship, diversity training, involvement with local schools and an essential skills programme. Environmental responsibility is also taken seriously, working in partnership with the Carbon Trust.

Moy Park’s workforce is comprised of a diverse range of people from different backgrounds – a significant proportion are incoming workers from Europe – education and talents. Team development is at the core of the company’s success as an IIP accredited training provider, including one of the UK’s leading workplace programmes for adult literacy and numeracy. National recognition has come in the form of the 2007 CBI Human Capital Awards for the adult literacy programme as well as National Training Awards.

Plans by a company called Rose Energy, formed by Moy Park, Glenfarm Holdings and O’Kane Poultry, to build a biomass plant fuelled by poultry litter near Glenavy has run into opposition from local residents.

Contact us...

The Food Park, 39 Seagoe

Industrial Estate, Craigavon,

BT63 5QE

Tel: 028 3835 2233