Northern Irish food manufacturer Davison Canners has won supermarket listings for a new range of desserts after securing a £3.1m bank finance package to move all its production in-house, creating 50 new jobs in the process.
Established in 1974, the family run business has used the funding from HSBC to renovate its onsite facilities in Country Armagh, invest in equipment and take on 50 additional staff.
Davison Canners has also expanded its product range of compotes, jams, sauces and syrups to include a new line of shelf ready, hot desserts for retail and foodservice in the UK, Republic of Ireland and globally.
Following the investment and launch of the new dessert range, the business has won contracts with Booths and Aldi.
The financing follows a previous funding package of £400,000 from HSBC in 2015, invested in a jam, compote and sauce manufacturing facility on site.
Following diversification and rapid business growth, turnover is expected to double to £10m in the next year, with staff numbers increasing from 10 to 60.
The HSBC package has doubled working capital facilities to £2.6m as part of the overall package of £3.1m, which includes £500,000 of term funding.
“Our long relationship with HSBC has been integral to our steady growth and has enabled us to realise our ambitions in becoming a diverse supplier of quality food products and storage solutions to a wide customer base,” joint MD Alan Davison said.
Davison Canners operates in three sectors: food manufacturing, fruit growing and industrial warehousing.
“Our orchards complement the food production that is now on site, we have full control over our products and the ability to innovate further,” Davison added.
“It provides us with a great opportunity to add further value to our initial product range of fruit compotes, fillings, jams and sauces, giving us complete control of our products from primary processing through to marketing and point of sale retailing.
“It has allowed for the increase and improvement in efficiency of the supply chain and we’re exploring more opportunities for growth and are excited about what the future will hold.”
Chris McQuay, deputy area director for HSBC in Northern Ireland, said: “We’ve supported Davison Canners since 2010 and in this time we’ve seen rapid growth as the business expands and exports its products further afield. Through diversification Davison Canners has opened up enormous channels for growth. It is an exciting and evolving business that is delivering quality products, making efficiencies and already reaping the rewards through winning additional contracts.”
The funding has been allocated from HSBC’s national £10bn SME Fund, with £100m specifically to support SMEs in Northern Ireland.
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