IRELAND – Ingredient and convenience food company Kerry has said that it wants to buy more UK and Ireland-based chilled foods businesses as the industry continues to consolidate.

The announcement was made alongside the company’s results for 2004, in which it said that like for like sales were up 4.2% on 2003.

2004 was a busy year for acquisitions at Kerry. It bought Quest Food Ingredients, which has a strong customer base in dairy, and the USA’s Jana’s Classics, which supplies ingredients for premium ice creams and desserts. It also bought Cremo, a Danish manufacturer of dairy-based ingredients for convenience and snack foods.