Fruitapeel on target for multi-million first year turnover

Date: 01/09/2010

A new juice facility that only started production five months ago is on target to turn over £12 million (€14.5m) in its first financial year, and set to launch a new brand aimed at the children’s market this month.
Fruitapeel bought the factory and assets of SunJuice in Llantrisant, Wales, when the business went into administration.
Since then, it has created 47 jobs, and is about to launch Funjuice, its own brand children’s drink, which has resulted in the creation of a further 12 jobs.
Funjuice will be supplied in one-litre cartons initially, with plans to expand the range to include 700ml, 500ml and 250ml cartons for lunch boxes.
The company has also revealed plans to open a new fresh orange juicing facility capable of producing 150,000 litres of fresh juice daily.
Earlier this year Fruitapeel was appointed Iceland’s sole supplier of own label chilled juice in cartons, servicing all their UK outlets, in what it hopes will be the start of a long-term business relationship.
The company has five production lines in operation running seven days a week to meet the growing demand for its products. The site produces an average of 600,000 litres of juice per month and reached its peak production of 1,500,000 in July.
“We have moved much faster than we originally anticipated and although we have only been in production for five months our annual sales are on target to reach £12million,” says managing director Terry Haigh, who also reveals that the company is in advanced discussions to supply two major retailers with a super premium brand.
“We forecast that we’d create 60 jobs as a result of support from the Assembly Government and are already up to 47. We’re investing significantly in facilities on the site – which is great news for the area – and are currently developing a local supply chain to bring additional benefits to the local economy.”
“When SunJuice went into administration with the loss of jobs, the Assembly Government worked hard to ensure the assets remained in Wales and this is the result we wanted,” adds Ieuan Wyn Jones, minister for economy and transport. “It’s good to see a new business creating jobs on the site.”

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