Lesieur to Invest €21 Million to Modernise Site in Northern France
Lesieur, the French company that produces and sells a full range of vegetable oils, sauces and condiments, has announced plans to modernize and develop its industrial and research activities at Coudekerque in northern France.
The historical home of Lesieur, the site, which employs 246 people, will benefit from investments worth €21.4 million spread over three years on its refining plant (€2.4 million), edible oils packaging facility (€17 million) and Research, Innovation and Development Center (€2 million), all dedicated to table oils and condiments.
Through this investment, Lesieur, which is a subsidiary of the Avril Group, is aiming to adapt its industrial facilities so that it can respond efficiently to changes in demands from customers and consumers, while at the same time assuring the competitiveness of these activities and their long-term future. The Research, Innovation and Development Center will also be broadening the scope of its work to all products made using vegetable oils and proteins produced by the oilseeds and proteins sector.
Set up in 1983 at the initiative of French farmers in order to assure the future of the vegetable oils and proteins sector, Avril has become a major industrial and financial group that is developing in France and internationally. Avril is present in sectors as diverse as human foods, animal feeds and expertise, renewable energies and chemistry, and owns a portfolio of strong brands that are leaders in their markets – Diester®, Sanders, Lesieur, Puget, Matines, Bunica, Taous, etc.
This new investment plan means that more than €60 million will have been devoted by the Avril Group to modernizing Lesieur’s production facilities during the past three years in mainland France. It follows the inauguration in January 2016 of a vegetable oil bottling and packaging plant in Bassens, near Bordeaux, which cost €31 million, and further illustrates both the strong territorial roots of Avril and its deep commitment to the future of French farming and industry. In 2015, the Avril Group achieved a turnover of €6.1 billion and employs 7,200 people across 21 countries.
