Dairy Crest sells ingredients firm for £1.2M

AFI, which is located in Leek, is a food ingredient powder blending business that specialises in sourcing, formulating, blending and packing food ingredients for UK food manufacturers and nutrition brands.

Commenting on the announcement, AFI md Gary Wells said: “We are very pleased to be acquiring the FoodTec business which will play an integral role in the future growth plans for AFI.​

‘Exciting opportunities’​

“This acquisition presents exciting opportunities to grow both the AFI and FoodTec businesses in collaboration with both existing and new customers across new products, technologies and processes.​

“Through our shared synergies we can add significant value to our customers’ businesses and we look forward to building strong relationships together.”​

FoodTec is a specialist powder blending business, focusing on gluten-free, bakery and specialist nutrition products, which is based at Crewe in Cheshire.

Bespoke services​

It works with manufacturers, processors and packers to develop and reformulate products, and claims in some cases to be able to improve their traffic light nutrition labelling status. It also offers a range of bespoke services, include storage, to help businesses cut costs and increase production capacity.

Dairy Crest has just come to the end of a four-year plan, which saw it invest £75M across its dairy operations​. In July it confirmed an infant formula deal with Fonterra​ and a £20M investment in its Davidstow site​ to manufacturer lactose-based prebiotics.

AFI is a subsidiary of the Irish Dairy Board (IDB), which owns brands such as Kerrygold butter and Pilgrims Choice and Dubliner cheeses.

The IDB, which employs 3,000 people and operates out of a headquarters in Dublin, announced in April that it was investing in a £24.6M butter plant for Kerrygold​, which would create 50 jobs. The company looks set to make at least €2bn (£1.58bn) in its current financial year.

The IDB recently split into three core platforms: consumer foods, dairy trading and ingredients and DPI, a speciality food distribution firm in the US. Its latest acquisition would suit the second of those divisions.