Khalid Mahmood, Member of Parliament from Birmingham and Jerry Blackett, Chairman of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce cutting a cake to mark the inauguration of Y International UK Ltd at Birmingham. Paul Kehoe, Chairman, Marketing Birmingham & CEO of Birmingham Airport; Yusuff Ali MA, Managing Director of Lulu Group; Ashraf Ali MA, Executive Director; Althaf M M, Director of Y International, and Tony Perks, Operations Director, were also present.
DOHA/BIRMINGHAM: LuLu Group, the hypermarket and retail major in the Middle East, Africa and India launched their operations in the UK with the inauguration of logistics and packaging centre under Y International (UK) Ltd at Birmingham on Wednesday, a press statement said yesterday.
The new facility, spread in 200,000sqf, was inaugurated by Khalid Mahmood, Member of Parliament of Birmingham, and Jerry Blackett, Chairman of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
Present were Paul Kehoe, Chairman, Marketing Birmingham and CEO of Birmingham Airport, members of Birmingham city council, representatives from the business community, Yusuff Ali M A, Managing Director of LuLu Group, Ashraf Ali MA, Executive Director, Althaf M M, Director of Y International, Tony Perks, Operations Director.
With an initial investment of £20m (QR111m), the new facility will procure and export food, non-food, chilled and frozen products of UK origin to LuLu’s over 100 retail stores spread across the Gulf region.
Presently, the group has a import business from UK, and with the launching of its logistics centre in Birmingham, the turnover is estimated to be increased considerably. The new facility is located at Junction 6 industrial estate at the Electric Avenue, Aston.
Commenting on the occasion Yusuff Ali said, “We are delighted to set up Y International in Birmingham and hope that with our long standing international expertise in running world class operations in multiple regions, I am sure we will be able to add more value to the various related businesses operating here”.
“As far as quality standards are concerned, needless to mention the high quality of British products are acclaimed internationally. We are now working closely with Job Centre to identify, train and recruit high calibre, multi- ethnic human resource to support our operations in the UK. At present, there are about 60 Brits employed which will be increased to 200 in due course of time”. Yusuff Ali also said that negotiations are in the final stages to acquire British mineral water unit which is expected to be finalized shortly.
Lulu Group is owned by non-resident Indian businessman Yusuff Ali based in the UAE. He is also named as the most powerful Indian businessman in the Gulf and also been ranked by Forbes in the billionaire club of the world. Currently it operates 105 Hypermarkets, Supermarkets and Department Stores in the GCC, Yemen, Egypt and India. Audit research firm Deloite has recently ranked Lulu group as world’s 9th fastest growing retailer amongst 50 around the world.
The group is also exploring new growth opportunities in Egypt, Iraq and countries in the Far East especially in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Peninsula
