Young’s Seafood to lose £30m Asda contract

Grimsby’s Young’s Seafood has been told it is to lose £30m of business from supermarket giant Asda.

It is understood that whitefish and prawn own-label work is involved in the contract, while reports suggest that New England Seafood International, a Surrey-based firm which acquired Albert Darnell on Grimsby’s Europarc in 2016, is in line for the cod and haddock business.

Meanwhile, the prawn work could head to Lyons Seafoods, which is part of a French company and has a UK base.

A Young’s Seafood spokesperson said: “While we’re naturally disappointed to not have retained this business, Asda remain an important customer for Young’s where we will continue to work together across several categories to deliver great fish and seafood products for their customers.

“Our existing relationships with multiple retailers and our recent natural whitefish, salmon and coated fish contract wins demonstrate our ongoing expertise and leadership in own-label and our ability to retain and grow business.”

In April, the private equity owners of Young’s Seafood announced they had put the business up for sale.

Lion Capital, Bain Capital and HPS Investment Partners invited prospective buyers to take part in a “structured and open bidding process.”

At the time, Young’s said: “We have sent out notification that we intend to start a structured and open bidding process with all interested parties for the sale of the Young’s Seafood group.

“Young’s Seafood is the UK’s leading seafood supplier, with a 200-year heritage and a turnover of more than £500m. We aim to inspire people to love fish now and for generations to come.”
The company has about 1,700 members of staff in Grimsby at its headquarters, product development and manufacturing sites, and around 2,000 in Scotland.

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