Sundora gobbled up by Whitworths

Home baking giant Whitworths has embarked on a consultation with staff at Sundora Foods after snapping up the dried fruit and nut firm for an undisclosed sum last week.

Production at Sundora’s Pocklington plant will be transferred to Whitworths’ factory in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, as soon as the purchase is completed, said a spokesman.

It is not yet clear how many of the 162 staff at Pocklington will move to the Whitworths site, he added.

Sundora’s owner Harrington Food Group felt the time was right to realise its investment, said Sundora chief executive Brian Young. The decision was “difficult but unavoidable”, he added.

Harrington was set up as a vehicle for a management buy-out of food processor JLI Group in January 1998, and subsequently acquired a clutch of businesses in the food sector. However, it has progressively been selling them off.

A spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s future plans, but confirmed that it now has no operating subsidiaries left.

Founded in 1946, Sundora Foods turns over about £25m and has a 7.7% share of the total dried fruit market by value, said a spokesman.

Whitworths claims to be the largest processor and packer of fruit in the UK and a leading supplier of home baking and cooking ingredients, stuffing and snacks.