April 5, 2012

Dawn Meats acquires West Devon Meats

The acquisition of West Devon Meats, a beef and lamb abattoir in the south-west of England has been confirmed by Dawn Meats for an undisclosed sum.

The latest acquisition in Devon means that Dawn now has operations in most of Britain's key agricultural food strongholds. The group has a mix of abattoirs and processing facilities spread in key locations in England, Scotland and Wales.

Dawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne said: "We are delighted to add West Country beef and lamb, which has a great reputation, to our portfolio of products for our customers and we look forward to working with our new staff to grow the business in Devon."

He said the addition is a good strategic fit for its procurement network, which gives the company access to a broad farmer supply base from the south-west of England, up to and including Scotland.

Dawn Meats has five primary processing facilities in Britain, in Bedfordshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Ayrshire in Scotland, and now in Devon, in addition to a retail and food service packing facility in Wales.

Dawn's group development manager Paul Nolan said: "We saw this as an opportunity to close the circle in terms of having a location in most of the major farming regions in Britain. Devon is a large farming area, so it made to sense to take advantage of the opportunity."

Dawn did not release any figures in relation to the Devon acquisition.