£1.5million deal for Mackle Petfoods

Welcoming the deal, estimated to be worth £1.5million over the next two years, Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell said: “Mackle Petfoods Naturo range was launched in the UK and Ireland in 2013 and the deal being announced here will now see the product on the shelves of 200 Albert Heijn stores in the Netherlands.”

Managing Director John Mackle said: “We quickly realised through intensive market research, storechecks and market visits there was nothing quite like Naturo on the Dutch supermarket shelves. In a pet loving country like the Netherlands, with 4.5 million cats and dogs, we saw an opportunity as the Dutch prefer quality natural products.

“We did our homework before entering the Dutch market and realised there are some differences between the Netherlands and our domestic market. This helped us to ensure our product offering was exactly what the market wanted.”