Glanbia yesterday announced plans to spend €27.1 million expanding its reach in the international market, writes Claire Shoesmith

The food and agri-business group is to invest in a joint-venture consumer foods business in Nigeria and a new nutritionals facility near Shanghai in China.

Glanbia is seeking to tap into the fast-growing consumer market in Nigeria.

In 2003, it established a 50-50 joint venture with PZ Cussons to supply evaporated milk and milk powder to the Nigerian market. Since then, demand has grown and its two facilities, one for packing milk powders and the other a manufacturing plant for evaporated milk, are not enough to meet demand.

As a result, the venture has now decided to double the capacity of the evaporated milk facility and to develop a second facility to produce a further range of beverages.

This investment will total €22.5 million, while the remaining €4.6 million will be put into Glanbia's first nutritionals facility in the Asia Pacific region. The facility will be located in Suzhou, outside Shanghai, and is expected to be complete in early 2008.

In September, Glanbia bought a California-based nutrients business in the hope of using it to enter the Chinese infant formula market.

Analysts welcomed the expansion, saying it would in the long run allow Glanbia, which reported flat pretax profits in the first half, to reduce its Irish focus and move into value-added activities.

It already has a nutrients business in Germany and last month became the leading producer of cheese in the US after opening one of the largest cheese plants in the world in a remote corner of New Mexico.

In its interim results published in September, Glanbia said sales growth in Nigeria had been strong.

The shares added 6 cent, or 2 per cent, to close at €3.02.