Iceland Seafood confirms UK exit

By Gwen Ridler

- Last updated on GMT

Iceland Seafood signs Letter of Intent to sell UK business
Iceland Seafood signs Letter of Intent to sell UK business

Related tags Meat & Seafood

Iceland Seafood has signed a new letter of intent (LOI) with a ‘respected industry player’ to sell a majority share of its UK business.

Though legally non-binding, the LOI will serve as key terms in the event of a potential of Iceland Seafood UK Ltd.

The parties involved aimed to complete the proposed transaction by 17 February 2023, with progress made in relation to the deal and its financial impact for Iceland to be provided ‘as appropriate.

This latest development in the ongoing saga surrounding the sale of Iceland Seafood UK Ltd followed a previous LOI signed in December. However, the processor reported negotiations were not successful and had been cancelled.

Iceland Seafood announced plans to exit the UK value-added market in November last year, after reporting challenges in the region impacting its third quarter financial results.

Eroded profitability

The seafood processor claimed its UK operation’s performance had eroded the group’s profitability to the extent that the board no longer felt it was justifiable to continue.

While the company concluded that its UK operation was no longer a strategic fit for the business, it said that the facilities and ‘strong management team’ in Grimsby could be a great addition to other companies in the sector.

Iceland Seafood reported the UK operation continued to be loss making with a normalised loss before tax of €9.2m (£7.98m) in the first nine months of 2022 – compared to a loss of €1.3m (£1.12m) for the same period last year. 

Financial results

Sales in Ireland for the first nine months of the year were in line with the same time as the previous year in value terms, but 13% lower in volume.

“Lower and more stable salmon prices helped the Irish operation in Q3, but whitefish sourcing was challenging at the same time, both locally in Ireland, from Iceland, and Scotland,”​ read the report.

“Continuing effects of a challenging external environment and operational difficulties negatively impacted the UK operation. Significant price increases of various input factors negatively impacted margins and led to further losses both with respect to prior periods and short-term outlook.”

Meanwhile, Food Manufacture publisher William Reed has acquired Retail week and World Retail Congress​ to complement its digital content, insight, events and exhibitions.

Related topics Meat, poultry & seafood Operations

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