Uniq to ditch Malton Bacon

By FWi staff

STRUGGLING bacon firm Malton Foods is definitely up for sale after announcing year-end losses of 11.4 million.

The decision was confirmed by parent company Uniq, formerly known as Unigate, when a set of disappointing results, released this week, were blamed on the hapless pork subsidiary.

According to a spokeswoman, negotiations with third parties are at an “advanced stage” and the firm would be disappointed if the disposal was not completed by Christmas.

While not confirming the exact sale price she noted that press reports of 45-50m were “inline” with the companys expectations.

Some pundits see this as optimistic and have proposed 20-25m as a more realistic value.

Uniqs pre-tax profits fell by more than 50% to 57.5m in the year ending 31 March.

However, exceptional items, such as the de-merger of logistics arm Wincanton, turned this into a loss of 118.4m.

Turnover during the year slumped by 15% to 2.5bn and this was reflected in a share price that fell by 51.2p over the same period.

The company must be hoping the jettisoning of Malton will restore City confidence. But analysts are reportedly concerned that margins in the core convenience food division have fallen from 4.4% to 4.2%.

Figures show Uniq underperformed its rivals, who enjoy margins of 7-8%, by 25%.

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