2 Sisters sells off £480m-turnover red meat business

Food giant 2 Sisters has cut its lossmaking red meat division, selling the business to Irish group Kepak for an undisclosed sum.

2 Sisters Red Meat employs around 1,700 people at four production sites – in Bodmin and Victoria in Cornwall, Portlethen in Scotland, and Merthyr Tydfil in Wales – and a cold store facility in Truro.

The sites, which operate under the brands McIntosh Donald and St Merryn, were bought by 2 Sisters from Vion in 2013 in a deal reported to be worth £30m.

However the Red Meat business has made losses in three of the four financial years and 2 Sisters has been restructuring.

Ranjit Singh, president of parent company Boparan Holdings, said: “We have had approaches over the past four years for our Red Meat operations, and we have been talking to several interested parties during this period.

“But as we always make clear, any sale has to be at the right time with the right buyer, and it had to be a deal that fitted with our long-term strategy.”

Boparan Holdings sold its Goodfella’s and San Marco frozen pizza business to another Irish business, Green Isle Foods, in a £200m deal in January.

“This deal represents another major step in transforming 2 Sisters and building a better business,” added Boparan.

Together the sites process and market, mainly in the UK, about 250,000 cattle and more than 1m lambs annually from more than 13,000 farmers spread from Scotland to Cornwall.

Kepak Group’s managing director John Horgan said the business was “a great fit for Kepak”.