Entry into India key for Kerry Group

KERRY GROUP says its entry into the Indian market was one of its highlights of 2011.

Chief executive Stan McCarthy told the group’s annual shareholder meeting in Tralee yesterday that, while accounting for just a tiny fraction of Kerry’s €380 million three-year acquisition programme last year, the move was “seriously significant in terms of the organisation five to seven years from now”.

The increased focus on emerging markets was also seen in confirmation that Kerry is closing its frozen meals plant in the north-east English town of Grimsby, acquired as part of Headland Foods in 2011. Production from the site will be transferred to Kerry’s Carrickmacross plant in Co Monaghan, which has extra capacity. Efforts would be made to get the 330 staff positions nearby. The Grimsby site and plant, a modern facility, is being retained and the group is exploring ways to use it.

Consultations were under way in the case of two other facilities in the UK but it was too early to predict their future, spokesman Frank Hayes said.

Mr McCarthy told shareholders the group was investing in a lot of change and building a global fabric for the organisation. “We are asking a lot of people to pick up and relocate to a lot of different parts of the world,” he said of key employees in Ireland.

The company is involved in manufacturing coating for pharmaceutical products in India, as well as in ingredients. It has also gone into manufacturing cereals in Argentina and culinary flavours in South Africa in 2011, and established a sales presence in a number of other African countries.

“It will be very expensive to get into India in five to 10 years,” Mr McCarthy added. He said the group had seen double-digit growth in Asian markets last year and its business in China was the fastest-growing part of the group.

The group has 150 manufacturing facilities in 25 countries and 23,000 employees and, while it has to keep “on the treadmill” of new acquisitions, it was anxious to consolidate its 2011 ones.