Green Isle Foods, the frozen pizza subsidiary of Northern Foods, is to double the production capacity at its Naas plant to meet continuing strong sales growth despite weakening sales trends in the Irish and UK food markets.

The company's £35 million expansion programme announced in June is expected to be completed next spring. A new production unit will make 12-inch pizzas complementing the output of nine-inch and 12-inch pizzas at the existing plant.

When the new plant is commissioned, the opportunity will be taken to upgrade the existing facility. The expansion programme is expected to create 190 new jobs, lifting Green Isle's employee numbers to 950 in Ireland.