Foyle Food Group, the largest single dedicated beef processor on the island of Ireland, added more than £40 million to its sales last year.
But it still reported a slight drop in profits, which it has attributed to a steep increase in cattle prices as well as rising operating costs.
Owned by the Tyrone-based Acheson family, Foyle Food Group’s latest account show that turnover in the year to December 31 2024 jumped from £501 million to £542 million.
The bulk of this (£370m) comes via Northern Ireland and Britain, but it increased sales last year in Europe (including the Republic of Ireland) from £121.5m to £138.3m.
Sales to the rest of the world slipped back slightly to £33.8m, though the business remains one of a handful of producers in Europe with approval to export to the United States.
Foyle Foods’ profit for the financial year was £10.7m, which was down on the 2023 bottom line of £11.7m, while its net assets are currently sitting just shy of £60m.
The directors, led by chief executive Terry Acheson (60), say they are satisfied with the result for the year despite the “very challenging” market conditions, and they continue to monitor trading, in particular the buy-sell margin and working capital position.
They say the buy-sell margin has been impacted by a rise in cattle prices particularly prevalent in the last quarter of the year, which continued into the first quarter of 2025.
Established in 1977, the company specialises in the slaughter, deboning and further processing of premium beef products, which are then exported around the world.
Some 6,000 farming producers supply Foyle Food with beef, and the group slaughters around 7,000 cattle a week across five different sites in the UK and Ireland. Its finishing farm outside Cookstown is home to more than 1,000 cattle.
Foyle Food Group’s specialist products include steak, mince, burgers, as well as offal products for both the retail and catering sectors, and it also has a range of premium ‘restaurant-ready’ products under the Foyle Gourmet line.
The accounts show that there were 1,134 employees on its books in 2024, which was up slightly on the previous year but still more than 200 below its 2022 payroll of 1,340.
Its wages bill last year came in at £40.7 million, which included salaries to its directors of £1.9 million.
During the year to last December the company paid an interim dividend of £3,300,000 (2023: £2,200,000).
And although the directors did not recommend the payment of a final dividend, subsequent to its accounts closing, a dividend of £1,700,000 was declared and subsequently paid in May 2025.
