Nationwide Produce Making an International Impact
Nationwide Produce has been recognised as one of the fastest growing international companies in the UK. The company featured at 46 in the 2011 Sunday Times International Track 100 published recently.
Nationwide Produce prides itself on being one of the most diverse fresh produce companies in the industry. It grows, grades, packs, buys and sells fresh produce. It has around 600 customers worldwide covering every sector of the market including retail, food service, wholesale and processing.
Tim O’Malley, group managing director of Nationwide Produce.
The fresh produce group has achieved recent rapid growth in international sales, which have risen from less than £6m in 2008 to nearly £17m in 2010. “This equates to an average increase per annum of 79%,” says Tim O’Malley, group managing director of Nationwide Produce. “As a business we adopted a strategy to develop our European business in sales and procurement, and that planning has really paid dividends.”
The company was founded in 1975 by Tim’s father Bernard and mother Joan who are both from local Lancashire farming families. Nationwide Produce started life as Bernard O’Malley & Co from a small room in the family home in Southport, Lancashire. The group currently operates five offices in England, one in Belfast, two in Holland, one in Spain and is about to open a new one in Sweden.
Patrick O’Malley, group director of Nationwide Produce, explains: “Our branches in Rotterdam and Almeria were originally set up solely to improve our procurement in these areas. However, having a wholly-owned presence in these markets led to us generating sales as well. The establishment of the Belfast and Emmen branches has also been a major factor in driving overseas sales growth. When we opened our first overseas office in Rotterdam in 2004, international sales were £667,000. Last year this figure was £16.8m which is a 25-fold increase in six years.”
Group turnover is also up from £31m in 2004 to £80m for this financial year. Now Nationwide Produce is looking to use this strong overseas performance as a springboard for further growth. In particular its next target is the growing Russian market.
