KK Fine Foods expansion
KK Fine Foods is creating 90 new jobs on Deeside Enterprise Zone in its largest investment to date, with support from the Welsh government and Finance Wales.
The £4.2million investment is creating an additional 10,000 sq ft of manufacturing space and funding the purchase of new equipment that will increase capacity to produce more than £30m worth of frozen food annually.
The funding package – which includes a £720,000 grant from the Welsh government’s Economic Growth Fund and a £1.2 million mezzanine investment from Finance Wales – was announced on Friday 14 November by economy minister Edwina Hart during a visit to the company.
Hart says, “This is a significant expansion project and I am delighted that funding support is helping KK Fine Foods expand into new markets and take advantage of emerging market opportunities. The Welsh government has supported a number of expansions at KK Foods and I welcome this latest important investment that will create more jobs on Deeside Enterprise Zone.
“This is also an excellent example of the Welsh government and Finance Wales working together to come up with a package of finance to support growth and create jobs, and illustrates clearly how important access to finance is for business growth.”
Chief executive and founder of KK Fine Foods, Leyla Edwards, adds, “We’d intended to increase our capacity to over £30million in the next three to four years to allow us to enter new markets, but the success of our seasonal products, as well as the continued sales growth in our existing client base, mean we’ve brought forward our expansion plans to meet this demand.
“Having successfully secured Welsh government grants in the past, we knew they would be open to backing our current plans.
“Officials introduced us to Finance Wales who structured a flexible mezzanine loan package to help make up the rest of the capital we required. This is our biggest investment in the business to date and enables us to take full advantage of the growing demand for our high quality frozen foods.”
