Kraft Foods Agrees to Sell U.K. Desserts Business to Premier Foods plc.NORTHFIELD, Ill. -- Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in North America and the second largest in the world after Nestlé SA. The Philip Morris Company (now known as Altria Group), a company that produces tobacco products, acquired Kraft for Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :KFT KFT Korlátolt Felelõsségû Társaság (Hungarian: limited liability corporation) KFT Kraft Foods International (stock symbol) KFT Kilo-Feet KFT Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius) ), a global leader in branded food and beverages, announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell its U.K. desserts business to Premier Foods plc, a leading U.K.-based supplier of ambient grocery products for $135 million. The proposed sale includes the Bird's, Angel Delight and Dream Topping brands, which generated 2003 annual revenues of $72 million. The transaction, which is subject to required approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2005 following completion of necessary employee consultation requirements. "As we continue to transform our portfolio as part of our Sustainable Growth Plan, we are focusing on larger-scale businesses where we can achieve sustainable competitive advantage," said Thibaud de Saint-Quentin, Vice President and Area Director of Kraft's U.K. & Ireland businesses. "The desserts business, which is geographically concentrated in the U.K. and Irish markets, is better aligned with a manufacturer such as Premier Foods that has a strategic focus on the desserts category." Following completion of the sale, desserts production will transfer within a period of 12 months from Kraft's manufacturing facility in Banbury, U.K. to Premier. Approximately 120 employees at the Banbury plant will be affected by the sale. The company will be discussing with employees and their union representatives ways to support those affected by the announcement as part of the consultation process, including offering fair severance packages, where applicable, to affected employees. Kraft's soluble coffee operations at the Banbury plant are unaffected by the proposed sale. Kraft Foods markets many of the world's leading food brands, including Kraft cheese, Jacobs and Maxwell House Maxwell House is a brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Foods. It is named in honor of the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years until the late 1980s it was the largest-selling coffee in the U.S. and is currently (ca. coffees, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Philadelphia cheese, Oscar Mayer Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut production company, now owned by Kraft Foods, known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon and Lunchables products. German immigrant Oscar Ferdinand Mayer meats, Post cereals Post Cereals, formerly Postum Cereals was founded by C. W. Post. It began in 1895 with the first Postum, a "cereal beverage", developed by Post in Battle Creek, Michigan. The first cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897. and Milka chocolates, in more than 150 countries. In the UK, the company's brands include Terry's Chocolate Orange Terry's Chocolate Orange is a popular chocolate product originally sold only in the United Kingdom, but now sold all across the world. It is a spherical ball of chocolate mixed with orange oil, divided into "segments", similar to a real orange, and wrapped in orange-coloured foil. , Terry's All Gold and Toblerone chocolates, Kenco and Maxwell House coffees, Philadelphia cheeses and Dairylea snacks as well as Kraft salad dressings. For more information, please visit our website at www.kraft.com. |
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