UK food group revises flotation price

British food group Premier Foods was today valued at £527m (€788m) after being forced to revise down the price of its long-awaited flotation.

Conditional share dealings in the group, whose brands include Branston Pickle and Sarsons vinegar, will begin today before full trading kicks off on Friday.

But a price of 215p a share marks the bottom of the new range unveiled by Premier yesterday and much lower than the 260p touted earlier this month.

It means the company is worth £80m (€120m) less than when moves for a stock market listing were first set in motion on July 5.

Details emerged as Virgin Mobile also cut its offer price by 15% in an effort to stimulate interest among investors.

Virgin Mobile – part of Richard Branson’s empire – had wanted its shares to carry a value of between 235p and 285p each, but this has now been lowered to a range of 200p to 220p.

Premier is the second major food producer to seek a listing in 2004 after Irish giant C&C Group, whose brands include Ballygowan and Tayto, which was valued at up to €900m when it debuted in London and Dublin in May.