Premier Foods is to sell its sweet pickles and sauces business, including its nearly 200-year-old Branston brand, to a Japanese company for £93 million as part of its strategy to offload units to reduce its £1 billion-plus debt mountain.
The disposal by the owner of Hovis bread is the second deal it has struck with Mizkan in the last three months after it completed the sale of its vinegar and sour pickles division, including the Sarson’s and Haywards brands, to the firm for £41 million in July.
Premier Foods said today’s £92.5 million sale includes the Branston sweet pickle, ketchup, relish, salad cream and mayonnaise, as well as its factory in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Once the deal is completed next year, the food manufacturer will have raised £370 million from disposals since March 2012, ahead of its target of £330 million by June 2014 to help slash its net debt of £1.3 billion. Mizkan chief executive Kazuhide Matazaemon Nakano said: “Branston Sweet Pickle is an iconic brand that has established a market leading position.”
Branston, which delivered turnover of £35 million last year, was first produced in an eponymous district of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, in 1829. It was developed into a brand by Crosse & Blackwell in 1922 and acquired by Premier Foods from Nestlé in 2002. Shares in Premier Foods today rose by 4p, or 4%, to 105.6p.
