Plerona puts £11m into drive to cut distribution costs to British market

PLERONA, the parent company of Monaghan Mushrooms, will invest £11 million in a new centre in Dublin to manage the distribution of chilled and frozen foods from Ireland to the UK.

The new logistics and data processing centre, which is being supported by Forbairt, is part of an overall £20 million investment by Pleroma which also involves distribution centres in Northern Ireland and Liverpool. Forbairt believes it is an important step in the development of the consumer food sector and particularly in boosting its competitiveness in the key British market.

Pleroma Distribution Ltd (PDL), a subsidiary of Pleroma - which is run by Mr Ronnie Wilson, will guarantee its customers 24 hour delivery to every region in Britain, including the southeast, and it is hoped that Irish companies will significantly increase their market share in this region.

The centre in Dublin will control all vehicle scheduling, stock control, order assembly and route selection. It will be linked to all major British food multiples and Irish food manufacturers by the use of electronic data systems, with paperless ordering, invoicing and payment.

The new investment includes Forbairt support for the Dublin logistics centre by way of redeemable preference shares, and is part of an overall £20 million investment package in the development of PDL's existing logistics capabilities.

It is expected that 20 jobs will be created in the Dublin logistics and data processing centre. Substantial further employment will be provided in the distribution facilities in Dublin, the North and Liverpool.

"Forbairt has been working for two years to identify and facilitate initiatives in transportation, with the aim of raising the competitiveness of the chilled and frozen food sector," the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, said when announcing the investment.

"The Plerona investment will result in improvements in terms of time, cost and reliability of transport."

Forbairt's target is to increase exports from the prepared consumer food sector from £400 million in 1994 to £825 million in 1999 and the British market is seen as the key growth area.

Monaghan Mushrooms, the market leader in Britain in fresh mushrooms and currently exports 45 million pounds of mushrooms to Britain each year. It also supplies the British market with 22 million pounds of mushrooms from its facilities in Britain.

As will as the 450 people it employs directly, it employs an estimated 1,250 people through its, grower network.

It is estimated that the transport costs between Ireland and Britain can be reduced significantly for the chilled and frozen foods sector. The existence of a dedicated logistics system for the sector may attract further mobile investment to Ireland, Forbairt believed.

Mr Dan Flinter, chief executive of Forbairt, says many reports have highlighted the deficiencies in the present transport and distribution system out of Ireland. Forbairt's investment in PDL represents a "pro active initiative towards the resolution of an issue of strategic national importance".

Pleroma group chief executive, Mr Ronnie Wilson, said it was "very reassuring" that Forbairt and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry both shared the company's confidence in the development required to give the Irish food industry a "top class, state of the art logistics system".