Food retailer Iceland sells all 27 stores in Republic to new franchise owner 

The new owner has been name as The Project Point Technologies. Picture: Robbie Reynolds

Food retailer Iceland has sold all the 27 stores it directly owns in the Republic to a new owner which it says will operate the outlets and around 450 staff on a franchise basis.    

The new owner has been named as The Project Point Technologies, whose  director Naeem Maniar has links to a number of other grocery and supermarket outlets in the Republic.

He was previously the Iceland franchise owner 10 years ago.       

Concerns have been raised about the future of jobs at Iceland. However, in a statement, the company said it is focusing its attention on its UK business, but that the sale won't affect the employment status of Iceland employees in the Republic.

Iceland had halted expansion plans in the Republic after chalking up significant losses during the pandemic. Iceland stores in the North will continue to be owned directly by Iceland.    

“In the 10 years since we took direct control of our stores in the Republic of Ireland, we have successfully grown the business from seven to 27 stores, created a substantial number of new jobs, and built mutually beneficial relationships with many new Irish suppliers,” Iceland Foods group chief executive, Tarsem Dhaliwal, said.

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However, he said that Iceland had opted “to focus on retail opportunities within the UK and on the growth of our export business, and to place our stores in the Republic of Ireland on the same franchise partnership basis which operates successfully in other parts of Europe”.   

“The Project Point Technologies Limited’s leader, Naeem Maniar, was our franchisee in the Republic of Ireland from 2008-13, I am confident that this past experience will allow him to be an excellent custodian of our brand for the future,” Iceland said.

“We look forward to continuing to supply our many loyal customers in Ireland through the new franchise partnership agreement.”