Ornua announces agreement with F.J. Need Foods

Ornua has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire cheese ingredient company F.J. Need Foods Limited.

The acquisition is central to Ornua’s strategy of further strengthening its core businesses in Germany, North America and the UK. F.J. Need’s strong competences will also strengthen Ornua’s UK business’s capabilities in the post Brexit environment.

F.J. Need supplies a comprehensive range of British and Irish cheese ingredients to the foodservice and food manufacturing sectors. Ornua has been a supplier of high quality Irish cheese to F.J Need for many years and the acquisition will strengthen this important supply channel. Its cheese production facility currently produces 16,000 tonnes per annum. Ornua believes that there is significant potential to expand this capacity to take advantage of the rapidly growing foodservice market for cheese ingredients both in the UK and in international markets. This potential for expansion into new sectors, including leveraging Ornua’s existing export routes to market, is a key benefit identified by Ornua in concluding the transaction.

Kevin Lane, CEO of Ornua says, “This acquisition will be another important milestone in Ornua’s growth as a global supplier of quality dairy products. We are buying an excellent family dairy business which allows us to significantly strengthen our presence in the UK ingredients sector. The complementary nature of our customer bases and the potential to further scale the business makes this a strong fit for Ornua. We are looking forward to working with Paul and Tracey Need to grow the business in the coming years.”

The acquisition will be the latest in a series of significant investments by Ornua, targeting new routes to market for Irish dairy products.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to UK competition approval.

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