Fire costs Branston Pickle factory £10m

The owner of a Branston Pickle factory wrecked by a fire in October today estimated it lost at least £10m (€14.1m) in sales because of the blaze.

Premier Foods, which also owns Typhoo Tea and Ambrosia, said the disruption was likely to have left underlying sales flat in 2004, rather than the 1% it could have achieved without the problems at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.