2 Sisters Food Group

2 Sisters Food Group
Private
Industry Food manufacturing
Founded 1993
Founder Ranjit Singh Boparan
Headquarters Colmore Row, Birmingham, England
Area served
United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands and Poland
Key people
Charles Allen, Chairman[1]
Products Poultry, red meat, biscuits, chilled, frozen and bakery products
Revenue £3.28 billion
Number of employees
23,000
Parent Boparan Holdings
Website www.2sfg.com

2 Sisters Food Group is a privately owned food manufacturing company based in Birmingham, England.

Established in 1993 by entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Boparan, as a frozen retail poultry cutting operation, it has grown rapidly through acquisition and expanded to cover 36 manufacturing sites in the UK, six in the Netherlands, five in Ireland and 1 in Poland.

Primarily a private label manufacturer for retailer and food service markets, the acquisition of Northern Foods in 2011 gave the Group ownership of brands including Fox's Biscuits, Goodfella's Pizza, Holland's Pies, Matthew Walker Christmas Puddings, Donegal Catch and Green Isle.

It is the largest food company in the UK by turnover.[2]

The group employs 23,000 people, with annual sales of £3.28 billion. It is listed 9th on the 2017 Sunday Times Top Track 100.

On 6 December 2017, the Group announced its full year results (52 weeks ending 27th July 2017). Sales were £3.28bn, with like-for-like operating profit of £64.5m. The Group reported profit after exceptional items, before interest and tax of £22.8m, against £63.4m profit the previous year. However, after exceptional items, interest and tax, losses for the year stood at £37.7m, against a loss of £1.4m the previous year. LTM EBITDA for the year was £161.2m [3]

In December 2013, the company was ranked as Britain's 4th Most Admired Company (food producers sector) in the Management Today Most Admired Company list, voted for by its industry peers.

In January 2018, 2 Sisters reached agreement with Nomad Foods on the sale of its Goodfellas Pizza brand for £200m.[4]

History

November 2000 - sites at Scunthorpe and Flixton were acquired. These were significant acquisitions as it meant the group would move from a poultry meat cutting operation to a primary producer.[5]

September 2005 -the group purchased Haughley Park near Stowmarket, allowing the business to manufacture cooked and breaded poultry.[6]

June 2007 - the group made four acquisitions - including Joseph Mitchell (Letham) of Forfar; Challenger Foods of Sunderland, where 400,000 chicken fillets per week are prepared for sandwich and pizza market; and the Tulip facility in Morecambe.[7]

January 2008 - the group bought Devon poultry firm Lloyd Maunder. The firm, based in Willand in mid-Devon, was bought for an undisclosed sum.

April 2010 - the group announced the agreed acquisition of Dutch-based chicken processor Storteboom Group, with facilities in the Netherlands and Poland.[8]

January 2011 - the group announced it was to buy Northern Foods PLC in a deal worth £342m.[9]

December 2011 - Premier Foods sold its Brookes Avana business, combining RF Brookes chilled foods and Avana Bakeries, to 2 Sisters for £30m.

March 2013 - the group announced the acquisition of the UK arm of Dutch poultry and red meat company VION. The acquisition helped to meet growing demand from 2 Sisters' poultry customers and further diversifies the company's offering to include red meat, supporting 2 Sisters' strategy of serving more meal occasions.

The acquisition followed the announcement by VION's Dutch parent company on 19 November 2012 of its plan to exit its UK operations.[10]

June 2013 - the VION acquisition was granted unconditional clearance by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).[11][12]

August 2014 - The business announced it was selling its Avana Bakeries cake business in Newport and its salads business Solway Foods in Corby, Northamptonshire.

January 2018 - The business announced it was selling its Goodfellas pizza business to Nomad Foods.

February 2018 - Ranjit Singh Boparan announced he was stepping up into the role of President of parent company Boparan Holdings Limited.

May 2018 - Ronald Kers was appointed CEO of 2 Sisters Food Group.

Sustainability

In December 2014, the business signed a major contract with Liverpool-based H2 Energy for the installation of bio-refineries at ten 2 Sisters factories to convert product waste into energy. The company claims the deal - which will eventually encompass all its manufacturing sites in the UK – will deliver 35,000 tonnes of carbon savings, 20,000 fewer lorry journeys a year and a significant electric and thermal energy boost, reducing its non transport carbon footprint by 10%.[13]

Food hygiene

2014

In August 2014, an undercover investigation into high levels of the food poisoning bacteria campylobacter in food in the UK allegedly showed raw chicken, contaminated by being dropped on the factory floor, being returned to the production line at one factory. The company strongly disputed this claim, pointing out the footage did not prove the chicken entered the human food chain. The Food Standards Agency initially cleared the factory of any wrongdoing but then admitted a breach of regulations had occurred though the company wasn't fined.[14]

In November 2014, 2 Sisters claimed to have launched the most comprehensive programme in the poultry industry to reduce campylobacter levels. The initiative, claimed to be costing £10m, would encompass the entire supply chain from farm through to consumer, using a variety of interventions including blast surface chilling and 'no touch' packaging.[15]

2017

In September 2017, an undercover investigation filmed workers allegedly changing the slaughter dates — and hence the sell-by dates — at a 2 Sisters plant in West Bromwich. The company strenuously denied the allegations.[16][17] Within days, management at the plant decided to suspend production.[18] The subsequent Food Standards Agency investigation report, published March 2nd 2018, cleared the business of any serious non-compliances.[19] The CEO of the FSA, Jason Feeney, said: "Our investigation found some areas for improvement but the issues were resolved promptly by the company, who co-operated fully, and at no point did we find it necessary to take formal enforcement action"[20]

References

  1. "Lord Allen of Kensington". UK Parliament.
  2. "Boparan Holdings Beats ABF To Top Spot In Food And Drink Survey".
  3. Stones, Mike (2018-02-13). "Boparan Profits fall after 2 Sisters poultry plant closure". Foodmanufacture.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  4. Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (2018-01-17). "Nomad expands deeper into the freezer with Goodfella's Pizza deal". ft.com. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  5. "Premier Fresh Foods - market intelligence".
  6. "2 Sisters' new sibling".
  7. "Three deals secured by Midlands 2 Sisters". MeatInfo. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  8. "2 Sisters Commits to Acquisition of Storteboom Group". prnewswire.co.uk. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  9. Bawden, Tom (2011-01-22). "Boparan buys Northern Foods". The Guardian. London.
  10. "Three Scottish meat processing firms saved after Vion UK sale". BBC News. 2013-03-04.
  11. "2 Sisters / Vion". Archived from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  12. "Vion takeover: 2 Sisters deal approval 'secures thousands of jobs'". BBC News. 2013-06-18.
  13. Hodgson, Neil (3 December 2014). "H2 Energy £50m bio-refinery deal will create 250 jobs". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  14. Lawrence, Felicity; Wasley, Andrew (12 August 2014). "UK food watchdog admits chicken factory breached hygiene laws". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  15. "2 Sisters Food Group Leads Way on Campylobacter Fight". The Poultry Site. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  16. Goodley, Simon (28 September 2017). "The chicken run: blood, sweat and deceit at a UK poultry plant". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  17. Goodley, Simon (28 September 2017). "UK's top supplier of supermarket chicken fiddles food safety dates". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  18. Goodley, Simon (1 October 2017). "Scandal-hit 2 Sisters suspends chicken production at West Midlands plant". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  19. "No evidence of serious hygiene breaches at 2 Sisters says FSA". The Grocer. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  20. "New report released looks at meat scandal surrounding 2 Sisters Group". FarmingUK. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
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