BWG Foods, the wholesaler and retailing company, plans to add a further 20 Spar and Eurospar outlets to its network of 450 in Ireland over the next 12 months.

BWG chief executive Leo Crawford made the announcement on Monday morning at the group’s conference in Killarney for Spar/Eurospar operators and franchisees, which takes place every two years.

“We believe that convenience is high on the agenda for Irish consumers and we are working with retailers to help them attract new customers and grow revenues by focusing on fresh food, innovation and digital trends to give consumers what they want,” said Mr Crawford.

“We also think this will provide new growth opportunities for the BWG Foods and we are anticipating continued store growth in 2017 and beyond.”

BWG, which is 80 per cent owned by Spar South Africa, currently supplies all Spars and Eurospars in Ireland, and also operates a portion of the estate itself.

In addition to Spar in Ireland, BWG also owns the Mace, Londis and XL brands and the network has about 40 per cent of the convenience retailing market.

Speakers at its event in Killarney included the O’Donovan brothers who recently won a silver medal for rowing at the Rio Olympics and South African motivational speaker Robin Banks.