Associated British Foods

Associated British Foods plc
Public limited company
Traded as LSE: ABF
Industry Food processing
Retail
Founded 1935 (1935)
Headquarters Weston Centre, 10 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4QY United Kingdom
Key people
 Charles Sinclair (Chairman)
George G. Weston (CEO)
Products Food, ingredients
Services Retailing
Revenue

£12.94 Billion (2014)[1]

$21.1 billion (2014)[2]
£1.08 billion (2014)[1]
Profit

£783 million (2014)[1]

$837 million (2014)
Number of employees
 118,000 (2014)[1]
Subsidiaries British Sugar
Primark
Website www.abf.co.uk

Associated British Foods plc is a British multinational food processing and retailing company whose headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major producer of other ingredients including emulsifiers, enzymes and lactose.[3] Its grocery division is a major manufacturer of both branded and private label grocery products and includes the brands Mazola, Ovaltine, Ryvita, Jordans and Twinings.[3] Its retail division, Primark, has around 200 stores with over 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2) of selling space across Austria,[1] Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the United States.[3]

Associated British Foods is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The company was founded by Canadian W. Garfield Weston in 1935, initially as Food Investments Limited, with the name changing to Allied Bakeries Limited a month later.[4] In 1960 the name was changed again to Associated British Foods. In 1963 the Company acquired Fine Fare, a leading British supermarket chain.[5] Following the death of the founder in 1978, control of the company was passed on to his son Garry, while the North American operations fell to his son Galen.

The company sold Fine Fare in 1986 and in 1991 went on to acquire British Sugar.[6] In 1997 ABF sold its retail operations in Northern Ireland and the Republic to Tesco.[7] These businesses were: Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices in the Republic of Ireland and Stewarts Supermarkets Ltd and Crazy Prices in Northern Ireland. This sale also included the Stewarts Winebarrel off-licence chain, Lifestyle Sports & Leisure Ltd (a retail sports and leisure business), Kingsway Fresh Foods (a meat processing facility) and Daily Wrap Produce (a fruit and vegetable packaging plant).

In 2000 the company sold its interests in Burton's Biscuits.[8] In 2002, it acquired the Mazola corn oil, Argo & Kingsfords corn starch, Karo and Golden Griddle syrups, and Henri’s dressing brands, along with several Canadian brands, from Unilever;[9][10] in 2004 it acquired the Tone's spice business and Fleischman yeast business from Burns Philp;[11] and in 2007 it purchased Patak's Indian food business.[12]

On 26 March 2011 Associated British Foods, and its parent company Wittington Investments, were targeted over tax avoidance by UK Uncut during anti-cuts protests.[13] The tax avoidance scheme involved moving capital between ABF/Primark and the affiliated Luxembourg entity ABF European Holdings & Co SNC by means of interest-free loans, avoiding tax of about £9.7 million per year.[14][15] The protest took the form of a mass sit-in in Fortnum & Mason.[16]

In February 2013, the firm was forced to deny “illegal and immoral” tax evasion after it was accused by an international charity of moving its profits outside of Zambia to reduce its tax bill. ActionAid said Zambia Sugar, a unit of AB Foods, had made profits of $123 million since 2007 but had paid "virtually no corporate tax" in Zambia.[17]

In October 2013, the company denied being involved in unscrupulous uses of land, in an article containing reports of forced evictions by other companies.[18]

Operations

Brands

Old Argo laundry starch box, photographed at Edmonds Historical Museum.

Subsidiaries

Board of Directors

Controlling shareholder

Some 54.5% of ABF is owned by Wittington Investments.[21] 79.2% of the share capital of Wittington Investments is owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, which is one of the UK largest grant-making charitable trusts, and the remainder is owned by members of the Weston family. Wittington Investments also owns Fortnum & Mason and Heal & Son. George G. Weston became chief executive of ABF on 1 April 2005, and Galen Weston, the chief executive of George Weston Ltd., is a non-executive director. Garth Weston is Regional President of AB Mauri.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Annual Report and Accounts 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  2. ↑
  3. 1 2 3 "Introduction". Associated British Foods plc. Archived from the original on 22 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
  4. ↑ "Bakers Federation". Bakers Federation. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  5. ↑ Ritchie, Berry (24 January 2001). "Obituary: Sir Alistair Grant". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Obituary: Garry Weston". The Independent (UK). 16 February 2002. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Pain, Derek (14 April 1997). "ABF's £1.5bn cash mountain provides investors with food for thought". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  8. ↑ Wootliff, Benjamin (31 October 2000). "Wagon Wheels roll west as ABF sells Burton's". The Daily Telegraph (UK). Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  9. ↑ "ACH Foods Company Overview". achfood.com. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  10. ↑ "ACH Food Companies, Inc. Buys Unilever's Mazola Corn Oil and Associated Brands". prnewswire.com. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  11. ↑ "Burns Philp & Co Ltd". Secinfo.com. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  12. ↑ "AB Foods buys curry firm Patak's" BBC News Online Tuesday, 29 May 2007
  13. ↑ UK Uncut Occupy Tax Dodgers Fortnum and Mason. 26 Mar 2011.
  14. ↑ "ABF European Holdings & Co SNC accounts 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  15. ↑ "Tax Research UK article". Taxresearch.org.uk. 2011-03-28. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  16. ↑ Video: Occupation of Fortnum & Mason by UKuncut was peaceful, by Sunny Hundal. 27 March 2011.
  17. ↑ AB Foods denies avoiding tax in Zambia Holiday, International: Reuters, 10 February 2013
  18. ↑ Merrill, Jamie (2 October 2013), written at London, Oxfam accuses Coke and Pepsi of taking land from the poor, United Kingdom: The Independent
  19. ↑ "ACH Food Companies - Mexico". achfood.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Associated British Foods plc - About us - Board and committees - Board of directors". abf.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Associated British Foods. "Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Retrieved 28 July 2012.

External links

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