|
|
|
Quick
Frozen Foods International News
|
| Icelandic Group Still Mulling UK's Iceland |
UK frozen food retailer Iceland has fallen back into the red,
figures to released Nov. 11 showed. The losses threaten to
undermine a £377 million bid for Iceland's parent Big Food Group
(BFG), outlined in September by Nordic investor Baugur Group HF.
Little known outside its chilly homeland, Iceland's Baugur
Group is a major force in the country's retail, insurance, and
real estate industries. The Icelandic conglomerate owns a large
share in Hagar, the largest food and specialty goods retailer in
Iceland with about 100 stores there and in Sweden.
Baugur, which already owns 22% of BFG, signalled that it
would be prepared to bid 110p a share. But investors now believe
Baugur is likely to reduce its offer, given the poor performance
of the 750-strong chain of Iceland stores. Company insiders say
Iceland's underlying sales over recent weeks have been running
at around 4% below the level seen a year ago.
Big Food had earlier said its pension trustees had reached an
accord with Baugur over pension funding, removing a potential
obstacle to a takeover by Iceland's largest retailer. The
"agreement in principle'' over funding of the pension fund came
after the Sunday Times said Baugur might walk away from bid
talks because the trustees were demanding that it plug a
pension-fund deficit. The fund had a liability of £131 million
pounds as of Sept. 17.
|
|
| 11-Nov-04 |
|
|
| . |
|
