A major Maltese business group spanning food production, catering and healthcare has unveiled a new identity as ETERNA Group, bringing several well-known companies under one umbrella.ETERNA includes James Caterers, Malta Healthcare Caterers, Healthmark, The Food Factory and Kore, together with their related companies and subsidiaries. The group says it employs around 6,600 people and generates €244.6 million in annual revenue.The launch, attended by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition leader Alex Borg, does not represent a change in ownership. Instead, the new identity is intended to give the businesses a common strategic direction as the group targets further investment and international expansion.ETERNA traces its roots back to 1989, when chairman James Barbara founded James Confectionery as a small family business. Its operations have since expanded into healthcare and social care, public healthcare catering, in-flight catering and large-scale food production.Today, the group says it prepares and supplies around 48,500 meals every day, while its healthcare operations carry out more than two million domiciliary care interventions and visits annually. Healthmark alone supports more than 10,000 clients across Malta and Gozo.International growth is also becoming an increasingly important part of the business. ETERNA says it exported almost 594,000 food products to around 10 countries last year, while it now has healthcare training and catering operations in the UAE.“Bringing our expertise together gives us a stronger foundation to invest in our teams, improve our services and take Maltese capabilities into new markets for sustainable long-term growth,” Barbara said.The group will now focus its strategy around three main areas; Food, Health and Innovation as it looks towards its next stage of growth.•