2 Sisters Food Group is a privately owned food manufacturing company based in Birmingham, England.
Established in 1993 by entrepreneur and current chief executive, 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.
The group employs 23,000 people, with annual sales of £3.12 billion. It is listed 9th on the 2017 Sunday Times Top Track 100.
On 3 November 2016, the Group announced its full year results (52 weeks ending 30 July 2016). Sales were £3.12bn, with like-for-like operating profit of £90.2m. The Group reported profit after exceptional items, before interest and tax of £63.4m, against £45.7m profit the previous year. However, after exceptional items, interest and tax, losses for the year stood at £1.4m, against £2.9m the previous year. LTM EBITDA for the year was £180.7m
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. However its food hygiene standards were criticised in several reports after 2014.
In September 2017, several major UK supermarkets cancelled orders with 2 Sisters, and some withdrew all 2 Sisters-supplied chicken from sale, after an undercover investigation, run jointly by ITV and The Guardian, revealed breaches of health and safety procedures.
Video 2 Sisters Food Group
Structure
The company has seven primary trading categories:
- UK Poultry & Added Value - Employs more than 8,000 people at 17 sites. Activity includes primary processing of Red Tractor minimum standard birds, Free Range, Organic and Corn Fed chicken. This represents about half of the business by sales.
- European Poultry - Employs 2,000 at six sites in the Netherlands and one in Poland.
- Red Meat - Employs 1,000 at two sites in Devon and Cornwall.
- Frozen - Employs 800 in the UK and Ireland - manufactures the Goodfellas Pizza bran
- Biscuits - Employs more than 2,000 and produces Fox's Biscuits and own label from three sites (Batley, Uttoxeter and Kirkham)
- Chilled - Employs 4,000 with products including ready meals, soups and sandwiches
- Bakery - Employs 1,000 producing chilled pizza, puddings, sandwiches, sushi, hot cross buns and morning goods
Following the acquisition of the VION UK business in 2013 (see below) 11 sites based in Wales, Scotland, Eye, Witham, Basildon, and two sites in Cornwall (Bodmin and Victoria) were added to the portfolio.
There are also Group functions (locate2017}}d in Birmingham, Wakefield and Nottingham) - Finance, IT, HR, legal, communications, procurement, payroll, technical.
Maps 2 Sisters Food Group
Board
Executive Directors
- Ranjit Singh Boparan - CEO
- Baljinder Boparan - Director
- Richard Pike - Group CFO
- Martyn Fletcher - COO
Non-executive Directors
- Charles Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington - Chairman
- Andrew Cripps - Senior Independent Director, chair of Audit Committee
- David Gregory - Non-executive chair of Safety & Governance Committee
- Susan Murray - member, audit and remuneration committees
- Ros Rivaz - member, audit and remuneration committees
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.
September 2005 -the group purchased Haughley Park near Stowmarket, allowing the business to manufacture cooked and breaded poultry.
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.
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.
January 2011 - the group announced it was to buy Northern Foods PLC in a deal worth £342m.
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.
June 2013 - the VION acquisition was granted unconditional clearance by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
August 2014 - The business announced it was selling its Avana Bakeries cake business in Newport and its salads business Solway Foods in Corby, Northamptonshire.
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%.
Food standards breaches
In 2013, the company was fined over £100,000 for food standards offences relating to shelf life dates.
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 the Scunthorpe 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.
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.
In September 2017, an undercover investigation by ITV News and The Guardian filmed workers changing the slaughter dates -- and hence the sell-by dates -- at a 2 Sisters plant in West Bromwich. Additionally, food returned by supermarkets was repackaged and redistributed, leading Chris Elliot of Queen's University Belfast to say he had never seen a food business operating such poor standards. Later that month, the retail and supermarket chains Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Lidl suspended buying from the 2 Sisters group, and the supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury's also announced investigations of food safety at the supplier. Within days, production at the plant was suspended.
References
External links
- 2 Sisters website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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