Proposed bread mergers ‘would leave Northern Ireland with just two commercial bakeries’
The proposed acquisition of Hovis Group by Associated British Foods “threatens competitive conditions for the bread market in Northern Ireland”, regulators have said.
And if the merger, first announced last August, does go ahead, it will leave Northern Ireland with just two large-scale commercial bakeries, where there was once nine.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is probing the deal for ABF bakeries (which owns Sunblest and Kingsmill) to acquire Hovis, which is currently owned by Leeds-based private equity firm Endless, and whose brands include Mothers Pride and Ormo.
If approved, the enlarged ABF would control 80% of the Northern Ireland market in pancakes, 60% of soda farl sales and nearly half of potato bread, which are all staples in the traditional Ulster fry.
The proposed acquisition of Hovis Group by Associated British Foods “threatens competitive conditions for the bread market in Northern Ireland”, regulators have said.
And if the merger, first announced last August, does go ahead, it will leave Northern Ireland with just two large-scale commercial bakeries, where there was once nine.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is probing the deal for ABF bakeries (which owns Sunblest and Kingsmill) to acquire Hovis, which is currently owned by Leeds-based private equity firm Endless, and whose brands include Mothers Pride and Ormo.
If approved, the enlarged ABF would control 80% of the Northern Ireland market in pancakes, 60% of soda farl sales and nearly half of potato bread, which are all staples in the traditional Ulster fry.
We don't eat much bread, but it's not difficult to bake bread which is superior to most supermarket loaves, especially stuff like Mothers Pride.
Using a decent bread maker makes it even easier, I can do it.
2 comments:
We continue to debate buying a bread maker. My wife worries that we lack enough vacant horizontal surface in the kitchen. Maybe we should do without the fruit bowl and the bottles of cooking booze and non-alcoholic cordials. But then they'd need to be found a home elsewhere.
If we put them on the chest-of-drawers in the hall, then the books there ...
dearieme - ours is an old Panasonic inherited from my wife's mother, but it is still very good at turning out a variety of loaves. It must be about 20 years old, but modern versions don't seem to be much different apart from having more recipes available.
Post a Comment