Food
2015: No.5 - £800m
2014: No.5 - £740m
There’s a mood of cautious optimism at 2 Sisters Food Group. After a challenging time in the market place and some costly integration and restructuring, sales are holding up relatively well, as are operating profits.
The firm posted a post-tax loss of £143.36 million for the year to August 2014 compared to a loss of £33.5 million the previous year. But this masked an of £89.5 million. One-off restructuring costs, refinancing debt capital and a number of facility closures have knocked £160 million off the bottom line in charges.
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Sales during the year showed an 18.5 per cent increase to £3.41 billion compared to £2.88 billion the previous year. Net debt is running at around £580 million. In the first quarter to November 2014 sales fell to £806.7 million from £885.3 million and operating profit fell from £26.5 million to £22 million, although profit after tax increased to £6.1 million, compared to a loss of £12 million for the same period in 2013. The second quarter is expected to be negatively impacted by loss of confidence due to an outbreak of avian flu in the 海角视频 and the Netherlands.
VION’s 海角视频 poultry and red meat business in June is still having an impact, but integration is reported as progressing well. The purchase added £1 billion of annual sales to the group’s growing turnover. The 2 Sisters Group acquired VION 海角视频’s 11 sites in Wales, Scotland and the south of England.
With the addition of the VION business, 2 Sisters operates from 47 sites in the Poland. Total workforce is around 23,000 employees.
The West Bromwich-based company - best known for its Buxted brand of whole chickens and chicken dishes – has achieved continued success despite spiralling ingredient costs and tight margins which are putting pressure on food manufacturers. Goodfella’s Pizzas are also among the company’s popular brands supplied to most supermarkets in the 海角视频.
The company also owns fish and chip restaurant chain Harry Ramsdens and has signed a licensing agreement with Premier Foods to make and sell Hovis breakfast biscuits. The biscuits are made at the .
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Ranjit Boparan’s career in food began behind the counter of a butcher’s shop in Bilston – the town where he was born. The 2 Sisters business was founded in 1993 and remains a private company, with husband and wife team Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Singh the sole shareholders. Ranjit Singh, who lives in Little Aston, is chief executive.
The 海角视频 flagship of the group is its Scunthorpe processing plant which has been operating from more than 20 years. After a major investment programme, it is now one of the most modern and best equipped food processing plants in Europe. As part of its consolidation, 2 Sisters has sold its processing site in Newport, Wales, which operated under the Avana Bakeries banner. Meanwhile, 90 jobs have been created at an expanding 2 Sisters fish processing site in Carlisle.
on training and developing their workforce and are proud of their record of putting employees through NVQs on factory and farm production. They also support, along with retail partner Sainsbury’s, a government-sponsored graduate scheme aimed at targeting new talent for the future of British agriculture.
The firm’s investment in the fight against campylobacter in poultry has been praised by the Food Standards Agency.
Baljinder Boparan runs the Boparan Charitable Trust which supports disadvantaged children across the 海角视频.
As well as their food businesses, they also have property interests. fortune at £1.3 billion but we can’t see that much, and, with continuing challenges in the business, we take a more conservative view.