RHM

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RHM plc (LSE: RHM) is a United Kingdom food business listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company was formerly known in full as Rank Hovis McDougall. It is head-quartered at Marlow in Buckinghamshire. The company is currently subject to a takeover bid by Premier Foods.

The company manufactures food ingredients, particularly flour, and consumer food products. It owns a number of leading brands including:

Bisto gravy
Be-Ro flour
Hovis bread and flour
Mr Kipling cakes
Paxo stuffing
Sharwoods Indian, Chinese and SE Asian sauces
Mother's Pride bread
Cadbury's cakes (manufactured under licence from Cadbury Schweppes)
Atora shredded suet
Saxa salt
Cerebos salt
McDougalls flour and cake mixes
Robertsons jams
Frank Cooper's jams
Rombouts coffee
Sacla Italien sauces

[edit] History

The company dates back to the merger in 1962 of flour millers McDougall, owner of Hovis, and Joseph Rank Ltd. Purchased by Tomkins plc, it was delisted form the London Stock Exchange for a period of 13 years until, under new management, the company was again listed on the LSE in July 2005.

The group is currently grouped into 3 divisions:- Bread Bakeries, Culinary Brands and Cakes & Customer Partnerships.

A common misconception is that the 'Rank' in the name signifies an acquired business of the Rank Organisation. This is understandable as Rank themselves were at one point a highly diversified conglomerate, and were apt to renaming acquired or joint venture business by prefixing them with the name 'Rank'. i.e Rank Xerox.

There is a link, but the 'Rank' reference is to Joseph Rank, father of J.Arthur Rank, who merely inherited the business upon his fathers death. It always remained a separately run enterprise.