New investments and appointments: the latest at Mars Petcare

Mars recently announced plans to invest €130 million ($139.5M) in sites across France to improve operations of Mars Petcare and Royal Canin.

Romain Dumas, General Manager at Mars Petcare France, says the investments aim to “increase production capacities, modernize and digitize factories and equip veterinary clinics.”

“All these investments will allow us to continue to offer the French and their pets quality products at the best price and to develop our company in a solid and sustainable way.”

The multinational firm will also deploy €65 million ($69M) out of €85 million ($90M) investment announced in January 2022 in the site of Saint-Denis-de-l’Hôtel (Val de Loire) for the installation of new production lines to comply with the company’s environmental commitments.

New EU leadership 

The company has also promoted two new personnel in its European team.

Helen Warren-Piper is the new Global Vice President for Strategic Initiatives to push strategic initiatives and focus on the European market. Previously, she was Chief Growth Officer for Europe and General Manager for the UK Pet Nutrition business.

After serving as Global Innovation Lead for Nashville under Mars US, Melodie Nye will replace Warren-Piper as the company’s Chief Growth Officer.

Boosting production in Australia

Mars will invest A$112.6 million (€69.4M/$74.2M) to expand its pet food manufacturing capabilities at the Wodonga factory in the state of Victoria.

The investment will support the development of a 7,800 sqm manufacturing facility for single-serve pouches for the Australian and New Zealand markets. Two additional lines will initially produce 290 million pouches of cat food per year.

GlobalPETS learned that the new expansion will be fully operational in 2025 and create 60 jobs.

This facility has witnessed investments of over A$55.8 million (€34.3M/$36.8M) over the past 5 years. According to Mars, the additional capital injection will allow it to “future-proof” its local operations.

“This significant investment will allow us to respond to pet trends, including the continued rise in cat ownership—growing at nearly 4% per year—more than twice as fast as our dog population,” says Craig Sargeant, General Manager at Mars Petcare Australia.

Sargeant adds that pouch products represent half of the Australian wet cat food market, which is growing at nearly 10% per year.