Northern Ireland’s leading grocer, wholesaler and retailer has revealed a turnover of £1.23 billion for 2022

Northern Ireland’s Henderson Group has posted a record turnover of £1.23 billion for 2022 – a rise of 15.6% on 2021.

The Group’s chief financial officer, Ron Whitten says the results are down to a strong and improving mix within the business, continued investment and controlled operating costs.

Northern Ireland’s leading grocer, wholesaler and retailer, Henderson Wholesale supplies over 400 Spar, Eurospar, Vivo, Vivoxtra and Vivo Essentials stores across the province.

Mr Whitten said: “In 2022, we made a strategic capital investment of £33million across new and existing retail and wholesale locations, opening a further nine independent and company owned stores. Our Foodservice company has recovered the momentum lost during the Covid-19 outbreak which particularly affected the hospitality sector and delivered a sales increase of 41.4% in Northern Ireland last year.”

Henderson Foodservice repositioned post-Covid with an updated digital platform and now processes 40% of its sales online, a strategy that has served both the company and its customers well.

Mr Whitten continued: “We are pleased with the Group’s performance for 2022, achieved against a challenging backdrop. We have increased our workforce to over 5,000, continuing to invest in our teams’ development as it is the backbone of our business. Despite the challenging economic climate, the uptake rate of Payroll Giving was 19.5% across the Group by December 2022.”

Henderson Group established a new partnership with Action Mental Health to further develop their employee wellbeing programmes internally, while also fundraising for the local charity.

In total, throughout the year, Henderson Group staff and retail stores raised over £1million for their charity partners; Action Mental Health, Marie Curie NI and Cancer Fund for Children, plus additional organisations including Tearfund, NI Children’s Hospice and the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal.

By the end of 2022, there were 265 automated external defibrillators in place outside Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores across Northern Ireland. All 105 Henderson Retail stores have installed a device, and 20 lives have been saved thanks to the hundreds now readily available in communities, including those in the most rural areas.

Paddy Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group, added: “It is important for us to channel our profits back into our business to create competitive opportunities for our retailers, support our local fresh foods suppliers and bring value to the shelves for our shoppers.

“The year wasn’t without its challenges, including the highest rate of food inflation we’ve seen in many years in December, however our commitment to investment and local sourcing put us in good stead and bringing value to our shoppers is always our top priority throughout our brands.”

The Group pledged a £60 million investment programme back into the business for 2023 to provide even more capital expenditure in their retail and wholesale infrastructure and technologies, sustainable strategies and to further enhance the value promise to shoppers at a time when they need it the most.