Princes bites off bigger chunk of food market

FOOD Group Princes grew sales by 8% to £1.18bn in the year to March 31, 2011 (2010: £1.09bn)

The company, which is headquartered in Liverpool but is ultimately owned by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, also increased its post-tax profits by 5% to £27.6m (£26.2m).

Princes said that it made significant progress during the year through its expansion into continental Europe, where it formed a joint venture with US food group Archer Daniels Midland to launch a joint venture selling bottled seed oils in Poland.

The company employs more than 4,500 people and has 13 different production sites. Among the brands it owns are Aqua Pura, Jucee, Napolina and the Shippams paste business.

Since its year end, Princes has also completed the purchase of the canning operations of UK-listed food firms Premier Foods for £182m, although the Office of Fair Trading later ordered it to sell the Fray Bentos canned pies business to allay competition concerns.

In November, it agreed to sell Fray Bentos to Baxters Foods for an undisclosed sum, and the deal was given the green light by the regulator last Friday (December 30).

Princes’ acquisition has led to it acquiring two major canning sites employing 1,000 people at Long Sutton and Wisbech in East Anglia, along with a number of brands including Crosse & Blackwell, Farrow’s and Smedley’s. It also obtained the rights to manufacture certain products under the Branston’s and Batchelors food labels.

Princes managing director Ken Critchley said: “We are pleased with our progress during the last financial year and have continued to invest in the development of our UK and continental European operations in the current fiscal year.

“We have a long-term strategy to expand our group both in the UK and into new international markets by investing in our supply chain through acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

“This will help us to continue to offer our customers quality products and services with the reassurance of security of supply.”