Hovis forced to cut 100% British wheat pledge due to poor quality UK harvest

Premier Foods will begin using EU-sourced wheat in its Hovis packaged breads in a bid to maintain quality following a poor UK harvest.

Hovis boss quits amid Premier Foods’ uphill bread struggle

The managing director of Premier Foods’ bakery arm tasked with driving the struggling bread business forward has resigned and will leave the firm early 2013.

Premier Foods: Catalysts, closures and consolidation…

Premier Foods will shut two bakery sites and remove 130 distribution routes at a cost of £28m ($44.5m); a move sparked by its lost Co-op bread contract.

UK bread wars: Allied Bakeries snatches Co-op contract from Premier

Allied Bakeries has secured an important win as it strikes a supply contract with UK retailer the Co-op that Premier Foods has been forced to cut, ABF’s finance director says....

Premier needs to address ‘sensitive’ distribution issue: Analyst

Premier Foods has split its bread business and upped sales in Hovis over the last quarter, but it has a lot more work to do and distribution is the sensitive...

Premier Foods' bread split is logical: Analyst

Debt-ridden Premier Foods has made a 'logical' decision to split its struggling bread arm from grocery in a bid to drive business forward, an analyst says.

Premier Foods faces fierce competition in UK breakfast biscuits

Premier Foods will need to invest to truly differentiate in the UK breakfast biscuit segment as competition is fierce from rivals like Kraft Foods and Kellogg, according to an analyst.

Premier Foods’ dilemma: Disposals needed but will bread go?

UK food group Premier Foods will need to rid businesses in order to stabilise following its ‘truly awful’ full year results, analysts say, but predictions of sell-offs remain mixed.

Lenders give Premier some vital breathing space; Rose's and Paxo may be up for grabs

Several private label and secondary and tertiary brands such as Paxo Stuffing are likely to be divested by Premier Foods in the coming months, claim analysts, as the UK manufacturer...

Hovis and Kingsmill stuck in British bread ‘slugfest’, analyst

After Premier Foods’ announced this week that it plans to up its spend on ‘power brands’ such as Hovis, Investec analyst Martin Deboo told BakeryAndSnacks.com that UK bread was a...

Premier Foods explores marketing beyond shoestring, Mr Kipling ‘category blur’

Premier Foods CEO Michael Clarke says he is pursuing a strategy of 'category blur' to revive the company’s disappointing trading performance, as he announces new marketing ammunition for the bakery...

News in brief

600 jobs to go at Premier Foods

UK-based Premier Foods has announced that 5% of its 12,000 man workforce will be axed as the company sets larger cut targets.

Premier boss Michael Clarke backed by city

Premier Foods boss Michael Clarke has received a resounding vote of confidence from city analysts, six months into his role, as he continues his plan to guide the firm out...

Premier Food’s Irish brands sale raises cash fears

The £34.7M sale of Premier Foods’ four Irish brands, Chivers, Gateaux, McDonnells and the Erin licence, to the Boyne Valley Group underline worries about the food giant’s ability to generate...

Premier Foods to sell Brookes Avana to 2 Sisters Group for €35m

UK-based Premier Foods has reached an agreement to sell its chilled bakery business Brookes Avana to the 2 Sisters Group as it focuses on eight ‘power brands’.

City: Premier Foods is going ‘absolutely nowhere’

Premier Foods will need to turn things around pretty quickly over the coming months or patience in its chief executive could run out, City analysts and corporate finance sources have...

Premier hoping Christmas comes early as own-label sales slide

Contract exits and promotional activity by branded competitors have seen Premier Foods' third quarter own-label sales slide.