Protel Industry Focus – Food and Drink, UK – 2014/15

UK Food and Drink Industry Outlook Positive For 2014/15

In this article we aim to present a quick and easy to digest run-down of the main trends and developments in a highlighted sector of the process manufacturing industries in one of our covered regions. For more information on the areas we cover, click here.

Confidence is returning in the UK food and drink industries after a period marked by recession. At Protel, we are currently tracking 333 active projects with a combined potential investment value of over £3bn.

In food, strong areas include poultry, meat, and ready meals. In the drink market, distillery activity is very buoyant, as are micro-breweries. (Many of these projects fall below our value criteria but can be captured by joining our process industry sales group on LinkedIn: here)

There is a large amount of FEED activity from engineering houses, with around 25% of this activity coming to fruition. However, there is also generally a much larger project pipeline for all major players.

More SME companies are cropping up and beginning to invest with an increasing number of new builds, relocation, rationalisation and expansion projects, often focused on new product development investment. This is in contrast to previous years, where many projects involved smaller debottlenecking or upgrade schemes.

There are however many projects still lingering at an early stage. One such example is that of Prince’s Foods; one project has a 4 year gestation period and is still some way from progressing. Other projects are being shelved for a long period, although more are now beginning to start up once more.

Some of the 6 biggest investors of projects underway are (data taken from our MyProtel project search engine):
• CocaCola – £200m
• Nestle – £200m
• Kraft Foods – £75m
• DairyCrest – £60m
• Heineken/Bulmers – £50m
• Quorn – £35m

The companies with the largest potential investment (data taken from our MyProtel project search engine):
• Nestle – £300m
• Princes Foods – £100m
• McVities – £100m

To gain information on specific projects or gain more insight into this sector, including all the contact details you need to start your sales process at the right time, get in touch.