Entremont Alliance is planning to invest EUR100m (US$118.69m) in raising capacity at some of its production sites.
The company, which was set up following the merger of the milk products activities of Europe’s leading hard cheese maker Entremont Fromager and Brittany-based cooperative Unicopa, will target a number of sites over the next three years
Output at its plant at Guingamp, in Brittany, will be increased from 15,000 tonnes annually to 40,000 tonnes. Investment will also target several other plants in the same region. These include the site at Loudéac, which specialises in semi-hard raw milk cheeses and a second at Montauban-de-Bretagne, where the production capacity of emmental will be gradually raised to 50,000 tonnes.
As part of the restructuring programme announced at the beginning of the year, the group’s dairy at Saint-Méen-le-Grand, also in Brittany, will close by the end of 2006, with the loss of almost 100 jobs.
In total, 173 jobs are set to be axed in Brittany but Entremont is planning to offer up to 120 posts at other sites in the group.
