Trading gets tougher as Premier Food mulls sell-offs
PREMIER Foods today said it remained “open-minded” about offloading some of its business portfolio and confirmed it was in discussions to sell its meat-free Quorn brand.
Premier, which includes Hovis Bread and Branston Pickle among its stable of products, said discussions on the sale of the business, which could raise between £200m and £250m, were continuing.
The company, which employs around 700 people in the North West- including 350 at Manor Bakeries on Merseyside, 80 at its Sarsons Vinegar brewery in Middleton and 240 jobs at a service centre for back office functions in central Manchester, said it was considering disposals if they helped cut debt and and contributed to shareholder value.
In an interim management statement for the three months to September 30, Premier said branded sales volumes went up 4.6% but their value went down 0.5%.
It said it faced an “increasingly challenging” environment with grocery market volumes down 3.2%. Total group sales were down 4.2%.
Premier said it continued to aim to make progress in 2010 but the slowdown in the third quarter meant that any growth would be “more modest and is, as always, dependent on Christmas trading”.
Robert Schofield, group chief executive, said: “We are making good progress on our stated strategic objectives, despite an increasingly challenging trading environment. Our brands continued to grow by 4.6% in volume over the period.
“This is against a background of our categories declining by an average of 3.2% for the quarter and represents robust market share gain.
“Although group sales have fallen as a result of ceding own label contracts in bread, and the general decline of the
own label markets.”
