Business

Coleraine food distributor turnover eclipses £100m

Lynas Foodservices has added outlets at its Coleraine and Belfast bases
Lynas Foodservices has added outlets at its Coleraine and Belfast bases Lynas Foodservices has added outlets at its Coleraine and Belfast bases

COLERAINE headquartered food distributor Lynas Foodservice boosted turnover to more than £100 million last year, it has revealed.

The company, which supplies frozen and chilled foods, grew revenues to £105.5m for the 12 months to October 31 2014 - up from £93.5m the previous year.

Profits held up on 2013 at £1.8m, largely due to the company choosing not to provide a dividend, having paid out £813,000 in 2013.

The directors, in their strategic report filed at Companies House in Belfast described the performance as "satisfactory".

"The company will continue to seek every opportunity to increase profitable turnover".

The firm, which was recently rebranded, invested heavily in expanding staff numbers over the year with the payroll rising to 340 from 253.

That saw Lynas' wage bill rocket by almost £2m to £9.4m.

The family-run company was founded almost 70 years ago and is now in its third generation, currently led by 34-year-old Andrew Lynas.

It has more than 5,000 customers from small convenience stores, large supermarkets, restaurants, coffee shops and sandwich bars, buying from a range of more than 5,500 products.

In addition to the main distribution centre in Coleraine, the group has three regional hubs across Ireland.

The company has a fleet of 80 trucks and makes 8,000 delivers across Ireland every week.

It began in 1945 as a small fishmongers shop in Coleraine, evolving over the decades in to Ireland's largest family-owned food distributor.

The business became Lynas Foodservice in 1999 and expanded into Dublin in 2008.

In recent years, it has added the Causeway Prime branded range of meats.

It also launched Lynas food outlets at its depots in Coleraine and Montgomery Road in east Belfast selling a selection of the company's range direct to the public.