FDBusiness.com

UK convenience food manufacturer Greencore Group is to build agreenfieldsandwich manufacturing facility in Quonset, Rhode Island in the USA. The new facility will be strategically located to enable Greencore USA both to service its existing markets in New England and also to develop future business opportunities closer to New York.

As a result of the project, the group will close its existing facilities in Newburyport and Brockton, Massachusetts on a phased basis between April and September 2015. Employees will be offered the opportunity to take up roles at the new facility.

The site will be over 100,000 sq ft with a modular design that will enable future expansion, and will be built to the highest standards of hygiene, efficiency and process capability. It will have sufficient capacity to support ongoing growth and will also result in material manufacturing process and distribution savings estimated at £5 million. The new site will employ 370 people when it opens in the Spring of 2015.

The cost of construction and fit-out of the new facility is estimated at £20 million and will be incurred over the next 15 months. Greencore will also recognise a non-cash impairment of assets in FY14 of £8 million in relation to the exit from the Newburyport and Brockton sites, as well as cash exit and start-up costs estimated at £3 million. These costs will be reported as exceptional items.

Patrick Coveney, chief executive of Greencore, comments: “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.”