Dairy giant Muller to invest £100m in growth drive
Shropshire-based dairy giant Müller has revealed plans to invest £100 million in its business as it looks to tap into huge growth in its markets.
The investment, which is on top of its usual spending, will cover its operational, innovation and marketing capabilities, and will come over the next 18 months.
Müller says it sees £700 million worth of growth in the dairy produce sector by 2020, and believes the investment will help it tap into that.
The investment will include upgrades to its existing production facilities at both its Yogurt & Desserts and Milk & Ingredients businesses.
The yoghurts and desserts division is centred on Shropshire, and has four major production facilities in the county. Those include its headquarters at Market Drayton, a new butter factory next door, the former Nom Dairy in Telford, which is used to make supermarket-branded yoghurts, and a desserts facility at Minsterley, where it makes Cadbury's products under licence.
"The Müller brand is already ahead of Coca-Cola and Cadbury's Dairy Milk in the top 10 most purchased fast moving consumer goods brands in the UK, picked from supermarket shelves 207 million times each year," said group chief executive Ronald Kers.
"Now we want to use our leadership position in dairy to rev up the engine and work collaboratively with our customers and of course our farmers to delight consumers and realise the untapped potential that exists to grow this amazing category."
The company has not said whether the move will create any more jobs in Shropshire, but with plans for new filling lines and upgrades to capacity it would appear likely that it will need more staff.
At present, it has a 21 per cent share of the UK's £2.6 billion yoghurts and desserts market, with sales of £550 million, and now hopes to build on that.
Bill Mathieson, commercial director at Müller Yogurt & Desserts, said: "There is significant potential to introduce new and innovative formats and to increase the number of shopping points in stores where shoppers can buy our products to consume at home or on the go.
"We will bring more inspiration and excitement to the point of purchase and create a more enjoyable shopping experience around the dairy category in stores."
