Derry Refrigerated Transport (DRT), which supplies virtually all major food service and wholesalers across the island, had sales just shy of £16 million in the 2021 calendar year, according to new accounts filed at Companies House.

That’s up 18 per cent on the previous year’s revenues of £13.5 million, with its growth coming in both UK and EU markets.

The Armagh-based company – founded in 1999 by Patrick Derry (43) and run today by both himself and his wife Fiona – also saw its pre-tax profits almost double from £657,980 to £1,127,659.

Retained profit for the financial year came in at £807,356 (up from £425,199).

DRT, which boasts a fleet of 100 trucks, 140 fridges, 20 curtain trailers and 4 skeletals, had an average of 36 permanent full-time staff over the year, and its wages bill came in at £960,000.

The group is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tivanagh Holdings, and its ultimate controlling party is Patrick Derry, a former finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

He left school at 15 and worked on a fruit market in Belfast before, at the age of 19, he identified an opening in distribution as larger UK supermarkets began replacing the conventional food markets.

The company’s steady growth over the last few years has largely come on the back of a £9 million investment in a state of the art coldstore at Carn, on the outskirts of Portadown, which dispatches goods daily to end users across Ireland and the rest of Europe. It was first facility of its kind in Ireland and represents the next evolution for DRT.