The move is part of a wider restructuring process which has seen the meat processing giant’s core business separated into three distinct units with immediate effect.
The new independent units – Danish Crown Industry, Danish Crown Foods and Danish Crown UK – were created as part of a three-part transformation programme that was introduced by group CEO Niels Duedahl following his arrival in September 2024.
“We must ensure that there is a sharp focus on value creation,” Duedahl said.
“That is why we have decided to split Danish Crown’s core business into three business units, each of which must generate revenue to our owners.”
The UK unit employs approximately 1,000 people across four factories and abattoirs, two pork offices and one beef and veal office.
According to the statement issued last week, Danish Crown UK generates revenues of DKK 4 billion (£4.6 million) per year.
During the transition period, Duedahl will be responsible for all three units, but a process to hire a new lead executive for each division is now underway.
“Instead of continuing to allocate resources to complex integration, we have chosen to make a split,” continued Duedahl.
“The business units will have their own management team and will be measured individually. In short, they will each have a sharp focus, and in the leadership team, we will get transparency regarding where and how profits is created in the business.”
He concluded: “[These changes] will undoubtedly contribute to regaining our competitiveness in the Danish pig pricing system, while also setting up the organisation for the strategy process which we will start later in the year.”
While the changes will impact how each unit is managed internally, the group said that division will stop act as Danish Crown in relation to customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
The move means that the group is now separated into eight units: Danish Crown Industry, Danish Crown Foods, Danish Crown UK, Danish Crown Beef, DAT-Schaub, ESS-Food, KLS and Sokolow.
In addition to Denmark and the UK, the group has facilities in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, while it recently announced plans to cease operations in China.
