The dairy nutrition company Volac is to close its purpose-built finishing and packing facility near Kells, Co. Meath.
The company, which produces milk replacers in Ireland, intends to “consolidate” production into its UK manufacturing facility.
In a statement the Hertfordshire-headquartered company said today (Wednesday, December 20) that after “a period of consultation, Volac has made the decision to close the Kells site”.
Volac stated: “It is proposed that production at the Kells facility will cease at the end of March 2024.
“Plans are now being put into place for the consolidation of production into our UK manufacturing facility.
“There will be no disruption in terms of availability or quality of product to the Irish market.”
The company initially created 16 manufacturing jobs when it first invested €3.3 million in the Kells facility in 2018.
Volac had previously purchased the Golden Maverick brand portfolio in Ireland, a range of animal milk replacers, in 2008 and has expanded its position in the Irish market over the last five years.
Volac
The UK company, which currently employs 468 people across its operations in the UK, Ireland, Italy and the Czech Republic has three key divisions; animal nutrition, performance ingredients and dairy ingredients.
Earlier this year the company reported pre-tax profits of £34.8 million on a turnover of £103.9 million for the financial year ending December 31, 2022.
According to Volac this result was chiefly driven by “strong market conditions in the whey protein market” which it said had recovered after several years of” challenging conditions when the market was negatively influenced by the COVID pandemic”.
When it reported its 2022 annual results in July 2023 the company had warned that it expected the next 12 month trading period to be “challenging” but at the time had said that it remained “confident in the future of its business and the dairy industry”.
Volac also announced in September that it would exit a 50:50 joint venture, MV Ingredients, with Arla Foods.
MV Ingredients, based in Devon, produces permeate powder sold by Volac and liquid whey protein concentrate sold to Volac.