Vion NV to sell UK food businesses

Food producer Vion NV is set to sell its UK food businesses, it has been confirmed.

The Dutch company has 38 sites in the UK, 12 of which are in Scotland, including Vion UK's head office in Livingston. Across Britain as a whole the company employs 13,000 people.

However, it has decided to sell the business in order to focus on its core markets in the Netherlands and Germany, while developing its global ingredients business.

Included in the UK businesses for sale are Key Country Foods and Tranfield and Grampian Country Food Group. Through these companies Vion supplies beef, pork, lamb and chicken products to the food service sector, as well as manufacturers and retailers.

Scottish finance secretary John Swinney has previously expressed concern about the plant employees' futures, noting that the sale announcement was “particularly worrying”. However, speaking more recently on the BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, he stressed that there are already a number of interested parties vying for the sale, adding that it will be important to push a sale through quickly.

“It is so important to the Scottish food sector, the Scottish agricultural sector and for the employees that are involved in each of these plants around the country, that we move quickly to conclude a sale process that will deliver some continuity in the marketplace,” he said.

Peter Barr, chairman of Vion UK, reassured workers and other interested parties that there has already been a “strong” level of interest in the business, noting that detailed discussions have already started with “a number of interested parties”.

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