Capespan International plc - the holding company for Capespan’s UK and continental European businesses - made a profit for the year of £2.2 million, of which the UK business contributed £1m.
“We had a major restructure in 2005 and closed our office in Maidenhead as well as reorganising our operations at Sheerness into three, separate, customer-facing business units,” Capespan UK md Ronan Lennon told FPJ. “Each business operates separately with each of our key customers as a company within a company and this has really had the desired effect in terms of customer focus.”
Another major change that has contributed to the swift turnaround for Capespan is a growing proportion of its produce procured from outside its traditional source of South Africa. “Last year we sourced 55-56 per cent of our volume outside South Africa and for the first four months of this year that figure has risen to 70-75 per cent,” said Lennon, pictured.
“We are now the biggest importer into the UK of Chinese apples and one of the biggest importers of French apples and of Chilean grapes.”
The company has also switched on more tropical lines in much greater volume and now has year-round melon coverage by sourcing from Brazil, Costa Rica and Spain, and is developing a pineapple business from Costa Rica. “We are really diversifying our product mix, getting involved in Indian pomegranates and Chinese chestnuts, for example,” said Lennon.
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