Saputo Dairy UK,the trading name of Dairy Crest Limited, is a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian companySaputo Incbought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of theMilk Marketing Board.[2][3]Its brands include Saputo Dairy UK,Cathedral City CheddarCheese, Country Life Butter, Utterly Butterly,VitaliteandClover.
 | |
| Formerly | Dairy Crest plc |
|---|---|
| Company type | Limited Company |
| Industry | Dairy Products |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Headquarters | Weybridge,Surrey,United Kingdom |
Key people | Steve Douglas (COO) |
| Products | Cathedral City (cheese) Clover Petits Filous |
| Revenue | £456.8 million (2018)[1] |
| £71.4 million (2018)[1] | |
| £149.5 million (2018)[1] | |
| Owner | Saputo Inc. |
Number of employees | 1,097 (2018)[1] |
| Website | uk |
Dairy Crest processed and sold milk (wholesale and via doorstep deliveries) and owned the milkshake brandFrijjuntil the sale of that part of the business to Germany'sMüllerin 2015. The company was listed on theLondon Stock Exchangeas Dairy Crest plc, until it was acquired bySaputoin 2019.[4]Saputo rebranded the company under its own name later that year.
History
editDairy Crest was established in 1981 as the milk processing arm of theMilk Marketing Board.[5]In 1983, the company launched Clover, a dairy spread.[5]The company established a joint venture withFrenchdairy companyYoplaitin 1981, called Yoplait Dairy Crest (sometimes abbreviated to YDC). YDC is 51% owned by Yoplait and 49% by Dairy Crest, and distributes Yoplait brand products in the UK.[5]
In 1995, Dairy Crest bought the Cathedral City brand ofcheesefrom Mendip Foods Ltd.[5]The business wasprivatisedthe following year and Dairy Crest was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange.[5]
In 2000, Dairy Crest acquired the dairy and cheese products division ofUnigateinLondon,[5]and in 2002 bought theSt Ivelspreads company, which had been based inWootton BassettinWiltshire.[5]In 2004, it acquired the Country Life butter brand from the English Butter Marketing Company,[5]andExpress DairiesfromArla Foodsin 2006 for £33 million.[6]
The company sold the majority of its own-label cheese business to its Scottish equivalentFirst Milkin 2006, along with the creameries and factory that produce most of the products concerned.[7]In 2007, Dairy Crest bought St Hubert for £248 million, securing the Cholegram, Le Fleurier, Omega 3 and Vallé brands, which were subsequently sold in 2012 toMontagu Private Equityfor €430 million (£347 million).[8]
Sale of milk business
edit
Dairy Crest sold its doorstep milk delivery operations in theNorth West of Englandin July 2013 toCreamline Dairieswho now operate the milk rounds from the depots inWarrington,Flixton,StockportandMacclesfieldand Mortons operate all those inWirral,ChesterandLiverpool.[9]Dairy Crest announced a big slump in profits on 6 November 2014 which was down 95% to £900,000 in the six months to September.[10]
The company agreed the sale of its entire legacy milk business, which processes and distributes milk, as well as theFrijjmilkshake brand, to Germany'sMüllerfor £80 million, enabling it to be combined with Müller's existing subsidiary,Müller Wiseman Dairies.The sale was approved by theCompetition and Markets Authorityon 19 October 2015,[11]and completed the following December.[12]
Acquisition by Saputo
editIt was announced in 2019 that Canadian dairy companySaputo Incwould be buying Dairy Crest.[13]
The company was valued at £975 million, making each share worth 620p.[14]The transaction was completed on 15 April 2019.[15]At the time of the sale, Dairy Crest was the fourth largest dairy company in the UK based on turnover.[16]Saputo renamed the business under its own brand in July 2019, though Dairy Crest Limited remained the principal legal entity.[17][2]
Operations
editThe company suppliescheese,spreads and drinks. Cheese brands includeCathedral City,Davidstow Cheddarand Wexford.[18]Spread brands includeClover,Country Life, Utterly Butterly,Vitaliteand Willow.[18]Spread and Frylight cooking spray production is consolidated atKirkby.[19]Davidstow Creameryin Cornwall has been run by the company since 1981.
AtTruro Crown Courtin December 2021, Dairy Crest admitted charges relating to a series of incidents of serious pollution between December 2015 and January 2021, including the illegal discharge of "biological sludge" and "suspended solids" from its creamery atDavidstowinto theRiver Inny,Cornwall.[20]Fines of £1.52 million were imposed on the company in June 2022.[21]
Plans for theCrudgingtonCreamery to close were announced in 2012.[22]The Creamery closed in May 2014, when production of spreads was concentrated at Kirkby while the research and development facility was transferred to an innovation centre built by the company atHarper Adams University.[23]
References
edit- ^abcd"Annual Report 2018"(PDF).Dairy Crest.Retrieved17 March2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ab"Dairy Crest becomes Saputo Dairy UK".dairyreporter.3 July 2019.Retrieved7 July2020.
- ^"SAPUTO DAIRY UK LTD - Filing history (free information from Companies House)".beta panieshouse.gov.uk.Retrieved7 July2020.
- ^"Dairy Crest name to disappear as it rebrands to Saputo Dairy UK".thegrocer.co.uk.15 May 2019.Retrieved14 August2020.
- ^abcdefgh"Dairly Crest History".Archived fromthe originalon 18 September 2008.Retrieved25 August2008.
- ^Mark Tran (24 July 2006)."Dairy Crest buys rival to expand milk round".The Guardian.Retrieved26 March2015.
- ^"BBC NEWS - Business - Dairy Crest sells cheese business".bbc.co.uk.26 September 2006.Retrieved26 March2015.
- ^"Dairy Crest sells St Hubert".ft.29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022.Retrieved10 July2022.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Creamline FAQs - General FAQs - Help and Support".creamline.co.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 16 March 2014.Retrieved26 March2015.
- ^"Dairy Crest sells milk operations as profits slump".BBC News. 6 November 2014.Retrieved6 November2014.
- ^Ratcliffe, Madeline (19 October 2015)."Dairy Crest share price rises as CMA approves Muller takeover".City AM.Retrieved23 October2015.
- ^Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (28 December 2015)."Dairy Crest loses taste for UK milk production with Müller deal".Financial Times.Archived from the original on 30 December 2015.Retrieved28 December2015.
{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^"Cathedral City firm to be bought for £975m".BBC News.22 February 2019.Retrieved22 February2019.
- ^Onita, Laura (22 February 2019)."Dairy Crest deal set to net Boss Mark Allen £4.8 million".Evening Standard.Retrieved22 February2019.
- ^"Saputo completes acquisition of Dairy Crest".Food Manufacture. 18 April 2019.Retrieved19 April2019.
- ^White, Kevin."Who owns the dairy industry? The 10 biggest dairy companies in the UK".The Grocer.Retrieved7 July2020.
- ^Sandercock, Henry (4 July 2019)."Dairy Crest brand replaced by new owner Saputo".The Grocer.Retrieved12 April2020.
- ^ab"Dairy Crest: Brands".Archived fromthe originalon 12 March 2010.Retrieved20 March2010.
- ^"Dairy Crest: Locations".Archived fromthe originalon 27 March 2010.Retrieved20 March2010.
- ^"Discharge from Davidstow Cathedral City cheese factory poisoned fish".BBC News.10 December 2021.Retrieved13 December2021.
- ^"Davidstow Cathedral City cheese firm pollution fine".BBC News.23 June 2022.Retrieved23 June2022.
- ^"Dairy Crest to close Shropshire creamery".farming.co.uk.21 September 2012.Retrieved14 August2020.
- ^Emma Walker (12 June 2015). "Demolition to start at creamery, Landmark buildings to disappear".Shropshire Star.p. 6.
External links
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