Northern Foods offloads chilled distribution arm

Fox’s Biscuits owner Northern Foods today agreed to sell its chilled distribution business for £51.2m (€74.8m) as part of a radical restructuring plan.

NFT Distribution, which employs 1,200 people and is based in Derbyshire, England, will be sold to a new group made up of its current management and backed by Phoenix Equity Partners.

The NFT deal is part of plan to shed businesses that account for around 40% of Northern’s revenues as it tries to cope with disappointing sales figures.

The shake-up was announced in May after the company revealed a 27% slide in pre-tax profits for the year to April 1 – down from £62.2m (€91m) to £45.1m (€66m).

In a statement today the firm said it hoped to use the money to reduce debt and plough £10m (€14.6m) of the cash into the pension scheme.

Northern makes Dalepak frozen foods and Goodfella’s pizzas, as well as Fox's biscuits and is the parent company of the Green Isle Food Group in Ireland.

Northern has more than 20,000 staff in the UK and Ireland.