The Musgrave group may still be awaiting a final verdict on its bid for the Londis chain in the UK but that hasn’t blunted the company’s expansion plans in its home market.

This week it announced a £15m investment in Northern Ireland which will see the opening of 50 new stores in the next 18 months. They will carry the SuperValu supermarket or Centra convenience store fascia. This will bring the total number of stores operated by the Cork-based group on the north of the Irish border to150.

Musgrave, which first entered
the Northern Ireland grocery sector eight years ago, now employs 3,500 staff, with another 1,000 to be added through the latest expansion. It claims a 12% share of the market. With Musgrave claiming a 24% market share in the Republic, that makes it Ireland’s biggest supplier to independent grocers.

Announcing the expansion, Musgrave’s Northern Ireland managing director, Noel Briggs, said the group was confident about the growth potential of the business, “in spite of the highly competitive sector in which we operate”.

The group, he added, was continually developing and refining to make it more attractive to retailers and consumers.Own-label products are also being expanded.
A wild game producer was celebrating this week after scooping a top food award. Highland Game took the retail meat category and the overall supreme award at the 2004 Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Awards. It achieved success with its larder-trimmed loin of Scottish wild venison. Scottish Executive minister for environment and rural development Ross Finney (left) presented the award to Highland Game’s Ingela Cassander and Christian Nissen.

>>p38 Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Awards
Anthony Garvey