Dalgety sells off Spillers petfood
Dalgety sells off Spillers petfood
IN A surprise move, Dalgety has announced the sale of its Spillers petfood business, leaving the company with just its agriculture division and the Pig Improvement Company.
The sale to Nestlé for £715m follows last weeks announcement of a £360m disposal of its food ingredients division. And it has also agreed terms for a £120m sale of its US food distribution business. The disposals will enable Dalgety to eliminate its debt and return £650m to shareholders.
When it announced its restructuring last September, it was envisaged that petfoods would remain with Dalgety, leaving the company with about half its former turnover (£4.2bn in 1996/97). But the latest disposal leaves just agriculture and PIC, which last year had sales of about £1.4bn.
Interim results, also published this week, show that PIC profits increased 12% in the six months to Dec 31, 1997 to £14.3m on static sales of £127m. But Agriculture continued to languish, with profits slashed by two thirds to £1m.
on substantially reduced turnover of £500m.
Dalgety shares shot up by more than 20% on Wednesday (Feb 4).