McVitie's Maker United Biscuits TO Shanghai’s biggest food and dairy company

[peterb]

IIRC,Heinz already had a production plant in the Netherlands so they decided to move production there.

It seems now they moved production to Spain:

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/b...7319-21381317/

HP sauce had been produced in Birmingham for over 100 years.

Yes, but it wasn't quite that simple. HP sauce ingredients included the left overs from the Ansells brewery across the road in Aston, so there was a sort of symbiotic relationship. When the brewery closed, it make the economics of HP sauce rather less attractive. (and you really didn't want to stand down wind of the area!)

[peterb]

If anything about my posting history (and why mods keep reminding me) i'm generally not one to pull punches.

snip--->

QFT

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yes, but it wasn't quite that simple. HP sauce ingredients included the left overs from the Ansells brewery across the road in Aston, so there was a sort of symbiotic relationship. When the brewery closed, it make the economics of HP sauce rather less attractive. (and you really didn't want to stand down wind of the area!)

The Ansells brewery shut in 1981. HP sauce was still making money for HP foods otherwise they would probably have stopped production in the 24 years up to the Heinz acquisition.

The UK and Canada are also the biggest markets for HP sauce too:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...ay/04/hp-sauce

I wonder if a French company like Maille would shift their mustard production to Canada from France as Canada is the world's largest exporter of mustard seed.

[petercook7]

Because buying a company to asset strip and then sell for a profit later is much more ethically responsible...

Ultimately we won't know if this is a bad thing until a) the deal goes through, and b) we find out whether the UK based production facilities are shut. But there's certainly no call to start complaining about the foreigners buying are nice British companies, and even less so when those companies aren't even UK-owned any more. United Biscuits it not owned by the British public, it's owned by two private equity firms who are now looking to cash out their investment. This is not an issue for faux patriotism and "how dare those foreigners buy our lovely British companies".

Britain is an incredibly expensive company in which to run any kind of production facility because we have very high wage expectations and the associated overheads with owning and running factories here are very high. That's why so many British companies have gone to wall, and why many others are looking for buyers at the minute - they're not profitable and the only useful assets they have are their associated brand names. Realisically, the only things worth manufacturing in Britain and the ones that use raw materials we also produce: once you have to import ingredients / components there's no point. It's a real shame, and it makes for a very difficult job market (particularly for the "working classes" as was), but it's the reality of global markets and finances: it's cheaper to manufacture elsewhere and import to Britain than to make it here.

Sucks, doesn't it...

for EC assets are brand names values they restructure companies turn them to profit,they dont export production etc..
l
high production costs lead to exportation yes, you can directly blame the landowners for the loss of jobs and this includes those aristocrates that profit from land and recieve a great amounts of your tax money.

[scaryjim]

... you can directly blame the landowners for the loss of jobs and this includes those aristocrates that profit from land and recieve a great amounts of your tax money.

I honestly do not know how to respond to that...

[peterb]

So, petrcook7, are you equally against UK companies buying foreign companies?

[SeriousSam]

Just a quick point seeing as Cadbury was brought up in the discussion.

Cadbury ceased to be a "British" owned company when it went public at which point the majority of investors were from the US. So all the nonsense in the papers around the buyout by Kraft was just them trying to strir up a story to sell papers. In real terms becoming part of Kraft was actually a good thing for the long term survival of Cadbury.

Now I'm sure some of you will disagree with that last statement, but actually how many of you have worked for both companies? In fact how many of you were actually involved during the takeover?

We live in a global economy and if we want the advantage of being able to buy goods from around the world then we have to accept the fact that it also means that sometimes things will be manufactured outside of the UK.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not actually in favour of capitalism as its part of the reason why we as a species are heading for a global meltdown. However as a system it actually works in regards to what it is designed to do. The real problem is that we as a species are blind to the true worth of what we have and refuse to see that we can't have it all.

[dangel]

So, petrcook7, are you equally against UK companies buying foreign companies?

Oh.. just don't

[petercook7]

So, petrcook7, are you equally against UK companies buying foreign companies?

I am against selling of what little we have left in this country, production that provides this country with an income, we are dropping down the economic ladder. Some people say yes we manifacture top goods but not in the size we need.
Then you have companies like these http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article...9270700183156T

Shifting there tax status abroad meaning one thing more cuts and more tax for the working people, get back to me once it starts hurting your pocket.

[petercook7]

Just a quick point seeing as Cadbury was brought up in the discussion.

Cadbury ceased to be a "British" owned company when it went public at which point the majority of investors were from the US. So all the nonsense in the papers around the buyout by Kraft was just them trying to strir up a story to sell papers. In real terms becoming part of Kraft was actually a good thing for the long term survival of Cadbury.

Now I'm sure some of you will disagree with that last statement, but actually how many of you have worked for both companies? In fact how many of you were actually involved during the takeover?

We live in a global economy and if we want the advantage of being able to buy goods from around the world then we have to accept the fact that it also means that sometimes things will be manufactured outside of the UK.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not actually in favour of capitalism as its part of the reason why we as a species are heading for a global meltdown. However as a system it actually works in regards to what it is designed to do. The real problem is that we as a species are blind to the true worth of what we have and refuse to see that we can't have it all.

The argument here is they are shifting the company to other countries kicking people out of jobs. its pointless arguing with most as they dont see long term, just like they didnt see the housing crash, credit crash and now the industrial crash, because the UK is a nation of iam all right joe doesnt affect me so i dont give a toss people.

They still live, thinking of their past glory 1966 etc... its over all that is history stop bring it up and move forward, no wonder britain is the laughing stock of the world you really believe that other countries respect us, lol they just put on a show they do, but are just taking us for everything we offer.
Poeple of the ages 80 and over build this country great grand parents and grant parents, poeple of the age 45 to 70 destroyed ie your parents, and anyone below will have to build it up again.

[SeriousSam]

The argument here is they are shifting the company to other countries kicking people out of jobs. its pointless arguing with most as they dont see long term, just like they didnt see the housing crash, credit crash and now the industrial crash, because the UK is a nation of iam all right joe doesnt affect me so i dont give a toss people.

They still live, thinking of their past glory 1966 etc... its over all that is history stop bring it up and move forward, no wonder britain is the laughing stock of the world you really believe that other countries respect us, lol they just put on a show they do, but are just taking us for everything we offer.
Poeple of the ages 80 and over build this country great grand parents and grant parents, poeple of the age 45 to 70 destroyed ie your parents, and anyone below will have to build it up again.

And I wonder which ones grew up under the welfare state...