SIGNIFICANT increases over the last year in prime cattle and cull cow prices have led to Tyrone meat processor Foyle Food Group posting improvements across all its key performance indicators.
The company, the largest single dedicated beef processor on the island of Ireland, specialises in the slaughter, deboning and further processing of premium beef products, which are then exported around the world.
In the 2021 calendar year Foyle's sales rose by more than 15 per cent from £371.1 million to £427 million, while its operating profit increased to £10.7m from £8.6m.
On a bottom-line basis, its retained profit was £7.3m (up from 5.9m), and at year-end the total retained earnings at the company stood at £37.9m.
Owned by the Acheson family, Foyle Food Group operates from seven sites in the north including Omagh and Derry, and it also runs two facilities in England, processing thousands of cattle every week.
In a strategic report filed with the results at Companies House, the directors said: "We are pleased with the improvement in key performance indicators despite the very challenging marketing conditions and increasing costs which have impacted the business.
"The increase in turnover is heavily linked to the increase in cattle prices that we have seen through the year."
Foyle Food Group's staff roster was largely unchanged over the year at 1,088 (it doubled its administrative team from 71 to 145 but employed nearly 100 fewer production workers).
Total staff costs rose from £31.8m to £32.4m, while the group’s directors received combined remuneration worth £1.7m (the highest paid of that cohort saw his salary jump from £240,877 to £292,555).
The figures also show that the group benefitted by £1.75 million from the sale of an asset, and it also received close to £300,000 under the Covid furlough scheme during 2021.
Coming after difficult trading conditions in the last few years, the latest results mark something of a renaissance at Foyle Foods, which is also now likely to benefit from access to the South Korean market as part of a UK government drive to tear down global trade barriers.
Officials from the Department for International Trade and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs are working with South Korean counterparts to lift a long-standing ban on UK beef exports to the country, and this could open up a market worth £2.5 billion.
This would directly benefit Foyle Food Group by boosting sales of fore-quarter beef cuts and offal.
Chief executive Terry Acheson said: “We would be very interested in the South Korean market. It is currently a large importer of beef from Australia and North America and unlocking UK exports would add value to both our business and our farmers.”
