Raisio, the Finland-based group behind brands including Benecol and Provena, is to invest in UK unit Nimbus Foods, which supplies ingredients to fellow food manufacturers.
The company is expanding the capacity of Nimbus’ factory in north Wales, where the business makes decorations and inclusions for bakery, chilled and frozen food manufacturers. Raisio is spending more than GBP1m (US$1.3m) on the project.
“The investment starts immediately and will be phased over the coming months. We would expect commissioning of the new equipment etc to take place between March ’18 and June ’18,” Nimbus Foods sales director Jack Proctor told just-food.
Raisio is to take on 14 more staff at the site to take the workforce to 57. Nimbus’ largest market is the UK but Proctor said the unit exports to 28 countries and added “exports will play a significant role in our business growth in the coming years”.
The overall group has a stated strategy of “plant-based, healthy and responsible branded products that meet the needs of consumers and customers”.
Asked what role Raisio’s business-to-business assets had in that strategy, a spokesperson said: “According to our renewed strategy, we will invest in our brands, new products categories and new markets. When it comes to our B2B businesses, we will invest when there is a need and increasing consumer/customer demand like in the Nimbus case.”
