ABP will invest £17m in Scottish meat plant

LARRY Goodman’s ABP Food Group is to invest £17m (€19.35m) in a planned redevelopment of its Perth processing plant in Scotland that will create 80 new jobs.

The redevelopment, announced by the Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for the rural economy and connectivity, Fergus Ewing, will include an extension and upgrade of the facility’s chilled storage area, dry goods storage, maturation and meat production facilities and staff amenities. The upgrade is supported by the Scottish government’s Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation grant scheme. It follows a £3m (€3.4m) investment in cold storage and refrigeration facilities on the site over the past year.

ABP has had a presence in Scotland since 1982 and acquired the Perth facility in 1997. The Perth factory currently employs 280 staff and works with 1,600 farmers from across Scotland.

The managing director of ABP’s UK division, Tom Kirwan, said the planned investment will develop Perth into one of the most modern plants of its kind.

“The improvements will benefit everyone from our farmer suppliers through to our colleagues and the local economy. It will create 80 additional jobs on site and provide significant employment during the construction phase,” he said.

In Scotland, ABP has recently started to source all of its electricity from renewables, helping it achieve quadruple accreditation from the Carbon Trust.