PREMIER FOODS

Ashford is a major dry manufacturing site (producing Cup-a-Soup, Pasta 'n' Sauce, Savoury Rice, Paxo, Bisto and McDougal products amongst others).

We implemented a new divisional structure following the acquisitions of the Campbell’s and RHM businesses in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The primary drivers of the structure are the commonality of the categories we operate in and the supply chain required to service them. Overall, we manufacture and market great products across many food categories including Bread, Cakes, Preserves, Convenience Foods, Desserts, Meat-Free Foods, Cooking Sauces, Stocks, Gravies, Flour, Chilled Ready Meals, Meat Pies and chilled Desserts. In addition to these was a focus on the UK and a plan to acquire great British brands and integrate them quickly to further contribute to our strategies based on scale. Above all, our aim was to improve our competitiveness against other food manufacturers, while at the same time delivering improved returns to our shareholders. This strategy is unchanged and still forms the core of all that we seek to do. Our most recent major acquisitions (Campbell’s in 2006 and RHM in 2007) provided us with a step change in scale and increased competitive edge in each of the three key areas identified above. In 1986, it bought various food businesses from Beechams[3] and in 1990 it acquired Premier Brands which included Typhoo and Cadbury's drinks. It was bought by the private equity company Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst in 1999.[4] In 2002, it bought Nestlé's ambient foods business.[5] It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004.[6] In February 2005, Premier Foods acquired from Kraft Foods their ambient desserts businesses including Bird's custard and Angel Delight. In October 2005, Premier Foods launched Branston Baked Beans. The marketing and promotion of this product was aimed squarely at challenging Heinz's dominance of the UK baked bean market.