IRISH FOOD Processors, the meat- processing empire owned by Larry Goodman, is to take over British frozen food company Dalepak from Northern Foods for an expected price of £6.4 million (€7.7 million).
A spokesman for IFP said “an opportunity arose which fitted in perfectly” with the company’s convenience foods business. IFP has 15 locations in the UK and, according to its spokesman, employs “well over 2,000” people.
The company is one of the largest beef-processors in Europe and operates three UK convenience food companies – Wessex Foods, Freshlink Foods and Eatwell UK
It operates primarily in the meat-processing sector and is expanding into convenience foods.
Dalepak was founded in 1976 in Yorkshire and was the first maker of frozen vegetarian burgers.
The acquisition of the Ross meat licence from HJ Heinz established the firm as a major player in the British frozen food market. It was acquired by Northern Foods in 1998.
Dalepak made what was described in a statement as a “marginal” loss on sales of £23 million in the year to April 2010, but the company refused to disclose further details of the subsidiary’s financial performance.
Northern Foods said Dalepak represented only 2-3 per cent of its turnover and that it wanted to focus on its “core business areas”.
IFP’s chief executive Larry Goodman is the sole shareholder of the company, which was built out of the collapse of Goodman International. – (Additional reporting: PA)
