Premier Foods and Nissin Foods Holdings Company have entered into a relationship agreement on terms and conditions, following the announcement by US spices firm McCormick that it was withdrawing its takeover bid for Premier last month.
Premier Foods has fended off a hostile takeover bid from McCormick & Company – because it “significantly undervalues [the manufacturer’s] growth prospects” – and agreed a partnership with Nissin Foods Holdings.
Premier Foods is making “demonstrable progress in self-improvement across the board”, according to analysts who met the company last month following a recent trading update.
Premier Foods’s pre-Christmas prospects look good, despite the firm posting falling first-quarter sales results yesterday, according to City analyst Shore Capital.
C-stores and online retailers offer Premier Foods considerable growth potential and the maker of Mr Kipling cakes is working on bespoke products for those channels, according to ceo Gavin Darby.
Premier Foods’ real challenge starts now, in the wake of its successful refinancing deal, although the agreement was an important milestone, claims one industry expert.
Premier Foods’ plans to sell its troubled Hovis plant bakery business should become clearer over the coming months, as news emerged towards the end of last year that a shortlist of three candidates were interested in buying or investing in the business.
Premier Foods may have to settle for a joint venture (jv) partner for its troubled Hovis bread business if it fails to secure an outright buyer, as it tries to reduce its mountain of debt and avoid the prospects breaching banking covenants.
Premier Foods’ senior management must have had mixed feelings following the agreement reached with the Bakers, Food and & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) towards the end of last month.
Premier Foods’ full-year results for the year ended December 31 2012 divided City analysts but all agreed its debt mountain continued to give cause for concern.
Food manufacturer Premier Foods moved closer to reducing its debt mountain today (October 30) with the confirmation of a conditional agreement to sell its sweet pickles and table sauces business to Mizkan for £92.5M in cash.
The coming year looks set to be a pivotal one for Premier Foods. City analysts suggest that the UK's largest food producer would need to have turned around its fortunes by 2014 or risk breaching its financial covenants.
Britain’s biggest food manufacturer Premier Foods expects to achieve efficiency savings of £40M earlier than expected as a result of its restructuring plans, it emerged in its half-year results released today.
Premier Foods continued to hit the headlines over the past month. Rumours of an impending sale of its Hartley's jams brand to US group Hain Celestial for around £200M followed hot on the heels of the announcement that the food group had sold its...
Premier Foods’ facilities at Histon and Knighton remain “prime candidates” for sale, after the firm’s disposal of its vinegar and sour pickles business based at Middleton, last week to Mizkan for £41M, according to City analyst Panmure Gordon.
Premier Foods could be targeted lock, stock and barrel by China's acquisitive Bright Foods, analysts have suggested, after the UK’s largest food manufacturer announced it had found a buyer for its vinegars business today (June 15).
Disposals are essential if Premier Foods is to service net debt, which is likely to remain at £1.2bn this year, warns financial specialist Panmure Gordon.
The UK’s largest food producer Premier Foods posted sales up 1.3% to £427M in the first three months of this year but left city analysts questioning its margin performance.
Tumbling bread sales in the UK and an over aggressive acquisition strategy from previous management has significantly contributed to Premier Foods’ share price plummeting more than 90% since its purchase of Hovis in 2005.
Premier Foods has confirmed that it has secured a new four-and-half-year re-financing package with its lenders that will allow the firm to continue its recovery after a troubled 2011.
Premier Foods will be keen to make further disposals ahead of any deal with its lenders, according to city analysts, after Manchester jam manufacturer Duerr’s confirmed it was still considering a bid for Hartley’s jam.
Premier Foods has refused to comment on speculation that it has agreed a new deal with its lenders after the firm’s share price rose 6.5% to 12p yesterday (28 February).
As pressure mounts on troubled food giant Premier Foods, the firm clarified its Power Brand strategy based on stronger supplier partnerships and hired the financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to handle crunch talks with its banks.
Analysts are growing increasingly edgy about the prospects for Premier Foods, with the company now almost certain to breach its agreements with lenders.
Changes at the top of the UK's biggest food manufacturer, Premier Foods, continue apace as Ian Deste, formerly with Coca-Cola Enterprises, has been appointed group sales director. Deste replaces Ian York, who is to leave at the end of the year.
Premier Foods could net anything between £120m and £180m+ from the sale of its East Anglian canning sites at Wisbech and Long Sutton, according to City analysts.
Premier Foods will need to turn things around pretty quickly over the coming months or patience in its chief executive could run out, City analysts and corporate finance sources have warned.
Premier Foods has lost market share in three out of four of its key trading categories in the second-quarter, according to Nielsen data supplied to Investec Securities.
Premier Foods could save far more cash through tackling the “mind-boggling” complexity of its procurement operation than trying to squeeze out operational efficiency savings, according to City analysts.
Some of Britain's biggest food manufacturers believe the restructuring they have undertaken over the past year or so means they are better placed to...