Rye Valley, a subsidiary of Golden Vale, is to open a new factory in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, employing at least 300 people. The facility, to be announced by Northern Ireland's Industrial Development Board (IDB) on Monday, will manufacture ready-made meals for supermarkets' own brands.
The investment, which agri-food sector analysts say will run to tens of millions of euros, will add scale to Golden Vale's frozen meals capacity. Last year, the company took over Rye Valley Foods, and has since invested some £22 million (€28 million) in upgrading the Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, facility.
With more than 700 people working at Carrickmacross, Monday's announcement will bring the Rye Valley payroll in the Border area to in excess of 1,000. The company already supplies many Irish and three major British supermarket chains with frozen meals, customised for each outlet's own brand; Golden Vale has expressed its intention to move into other European markets.
The move is likely to be welcomed by politicians on both sides of the Border; the region has received a relatively low share of industrial investment in recent years.
While the IDB would not comment on the details of the investment, the agency indicated a poor record in creating jobs in Co Fermanagh.
Aside from the 329 jobs created in the glass container factory built by Mr Sean Quinn in his native Derrylin, the county has seen no development creating more than 100 jobs since 1994.
In four years, there have been just 10 projects announced for Co Fermanagh, with an average of 72 jobs in each.
Earlier this year, Golden Vale reported strong annual results, with pre-tax profits before exceptional items up more than 32 per cent to €27.1 million (£21.3 million), boosted by strong growth in its consumer foods and processed cheese operations.
The company said it was Golden Vale expanding its processed cheese operations and investing £8 million sterling in its cheese slices operation in Coleraine, Co Derry, which would cement the group's position as one of the biggest processed cheese supplier in Europe.
At the time, the Golden Vale's chief executive, Mr Jim Murphy, declined to comment on reports that the firm was planning to invest another €25 million in Rye Valley to double its output.
