Moy Park spent £12m on Covid-related costs last year

Moy Park, one of Europe's largest poultry processors, chalked up £12 million (€14 million) in costs relating to the Covid crisis last year, newly filed accounts show.

However, the company said it was able to offset most of the pandemic-related costs due to operational improvements and reductions in administration expenses.

The company, which is owned by Pilgrim's Pride, employs more than 10,200 people in Europe, many of them in facilities in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, Craigavon, Co Armagh and Ballymena, Co Antrim.

The company recorded revenues of £1.46 billion (€1.7 billion ) last year, down 8 per cent on the £1.58 billion reported in 2019. Despite the decline in turnover, operating profits increased 15.3 per cent to £86.2 million from £75 million.

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Moy Park ended the year with £374 million in net assets, up 23 per cent versus the £304 million recorded a year earlier.

A £2.6 million dividend was paid to the group’s parent, Pilgrim’s Pride, which acquired the company in a $1.3 billion deal in 2017.

Moy Park was founded in Tyrone in 1943, is headquartered in Craigavon and employs 10,200 people across 12 processing facilities in Northern Ireland, France and England. It is the largest private employer in the North with around 6,000 employees. It is also ranked as one of the UK"s top 15 food companies.

Staff costs for the company totalled £280.7 million in 2020, down from £283.6 million in the prior year.

The group said it processed 271.7 million birds last year, as against 289.4 million in 2019.