POTATO specialist Albert Bartlett has set up a joint venture in the Middle East as it targets further export growth.
The family-owned Airdrie company is linking up with United Arab Emirates based conglomerate Al Dahra Agriculture.
The newly set up Al Dahra Bartlett, which will have its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, will distribute potatoes and potato based products around the Middle East and also into Africa as well. A deal has already been struck for 50,000 tonnes of potatoes to be supplied to food processing companies in Egypt.
Further agreements are expected to be sealed in the coming months.
Ronnie Bartlett, chairman of Albert Bartlett, said: "Al Dahra Bartlett brings together two like-minded businesses that share the same core values of adhering to sustainable business practices, service excellence and a passion for their products that engenders trust from customers and consumers alike."
The companies suggested this was the first venture of its kind in the region. Khadim Al Darei, vice chairman of Al Dahra Agriculture, said: "The joint venture with Albert Bartlett will strengthen the presence of Al Dahra's products in the European and Asian markets, bring new opportunities and maximum use of our land banks across four continents and two hemispheres."
Albert Bartlett, which employs around 750 people and handles in excess of 500,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually, already sells into Europe, North America and Australasia.
In 2012, it struck a deal for its Rooster brand of potatoes to be sold in Walmart stores across the US. Its most recent annual accounts show turnover jumped from £119 million to £165m and pre-tax profit from £7.73m to £9.56m in the 12 months to May 31 last year.
The Albert Bartlett business was set up in 1948 as a beetroot boiling company but is now into its third generation of family ownership. Its potato growing network stretches from Jersey to Inverness but it also deals in other fresh produce.
Al Dahra Agriculture, founded in 1995 and with an annual turnover of close to $1 billion, has interests across animal feed, dairy products, logistics and fresh produce including dates, apples, strawberries, cucumber and tomatoes. As well as its home market it operates in the US, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Namibia.
Separately Aldi now accounts for 4.3% of the UK grocery market after figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed year-on-year growth accelerated to a record 33.5% in the 12 weeks to March 2.
Lidl held on to its record 3.2% share, while Waitrose shrugged off pressure from the discounters with its highest ever market share of 5%.
Among the big four supermarkets, Sainsbury's was the only retailer to hold its market share year-on-year at 17%, while Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all recorded declines in share.
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article