Hillsdown postpones poultry sell-off
05 March 1999
Hillsdown postpones poultry sell-off
HILLSDOWN, the problem-hit food producer, has postponed plans to sell 450 poultry farms.
The company says it will make a new attempt to release some of the £200 million it has tied up in the loss-making poultry when market conditions have improved.
The group set out a radical re-organisation of its business last year, involving two demergers and a number of disposals.
The demergers took place in October but, since the sale of its poultry breeding and continental biscuits arm, the plan has almost ground to a halt.
The group reported a rise in 1998 pre-tax profits from £110 million to £123m, but it blamed a 20% decline in underlying operating profits to £80.2m partly on poultry.
Hillsdown had sold its Ross Breeders poultry-breeding subsidiary for £100m but the remaining poultry division lost £2.7m, against a £20.2m operating profit last time.
- Hillsdown spells out three-way split, FWi, 09 September, 1998
- Hillsdown to postpone sale of poultry business, FWi, 07 September, 1998
- Hillsdown to sell fowl business, FWi, 02 May, 1998
- The Times 05/03/02/99 page 29
- The Independent 05/03/02/99 page 19
- Financial Times 05/03/99 page 17, page 18
- The Daily Telegraph 05/03/99 page 37
- The Times 05/03/02/99 page 29