FDBusiness.com

Icelandic Group has decided to combine the management of its three UK businesses – Seachill, Coldwater and Icelandic UK. The move follows a global strategic development review which has resulted in Icelandic Group concluding that it is essential that its UK activities are strategically aligned and co-ordinated as one. The combined Grimsby-based UK company has turnover of £300 million and manufacturing operations will continue as three discreet business units.

Fuelled by an investment strategy, the 1500 jobs in the region are said to be unaffected by the changes. The move is intended to create the platform for the UK business to scale-up to an industry leadership position in 3-5 years time.

Malcolm Eley (previously Managing Director of Seachill) will be CEO of IGUK, supported by the existing leadership teams. Anita Barker will leave the business following a handover period. Magni Thor Geirsson will be Managing Director Procurement and Deputy for the combined business. Simon Smith will be Sales & Marketing Director for the combined business.

With 20% market share, IGUK is already a major player in the industry as primary and secondary processor of fresh and chilled seafood including wet, coated, ready to cook, ready to eat and ready meals and frozen fish. The businesses combined supply all the major UK retailers.

With many parts of the industry currently suffering trading volatility, the opportunity being provided by the Icelandic Group’s scale is continued stability and greater access to fish resources for UK customers. The management reorganisation will enable IGUK to build on its solid foundations and it will be in a position to invest further. Increased consumer understanding, access to quality raw material via Icelandic Group Global, R&D and factory efficiency are areas of focus.

Magnus Bjarnason, President & CEO of Icelandic Group, comments: “We recognise the importance of the UK, not least because of its highly developed retail market and are keen to take an active part in our continued growth in this territory. I’d like to thank Anita Barker for her hard work and tenacity in developing the Coldwater business over the past few years; she has been a valuable member of the IGUK team in developing the new strategy.”

With its international network of production and marketing companies in Europe and Asia, Icelandic Group offers a wide variety of fresh, chilled and frozen seafood products and services on a global scale. Icelandic Group’s core business is focused on value-added processing of seafood, mostly ready meals for retail and food service.

Icelandic Group has two main business segments; primary processing and value added processing, and sales and marketing, representing 60% and 40% of total sales respectively. On the production side, the group operates processing plants in the UK focused on value added products. The sales and marketing platform is focused on promoting Icelandic branded products on all major markets, most notably in UK, Spain and Japan. In addition, Icelandic Group is also involved in primary processing of raw material in Iceland.