Meat processor saved from closure:100 jobs secure

Yorkshire Premier Meats in South Kirby now has a secure future and the management team has stabilised the business.

The plant prepares meat for the ready meals industry.

Its employees’ jobs first came under threat when the loss-making meat processor was put up for sale in July 2012. The company attributed its struggles to a difficult climate in the meat industry.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Premier Meats told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Conditions in the meat industry have been really tough, pressure has been coming at us from all sides.”​

A number of offers were made to purchase the company but its owner, ANM Group, decided to support a management buy-in.

Management buy- in​

In a company statement, ANM Group said: “Having considered all offers for the company and recognising the stabilising of the business which has now been achieved, the Board of ANM Group are pleased to announce that they have decided to support a management buy- in of Yorkshire Premier Meats.​

“The new partnership demonstrates the management buy in team’s confidence in the business and is backed by the ongoing support of ANM Group.”​

The management buy in team is made up of the md of the ANM Group Meat Division, Jim Jaffray, and the AHNM Group finance director, Keith McCall.

Jaffray and McCall own 75% of the company while ANM has a 25% stake.

The spokesman said: “It’s almost a management buy out. There’s been a change in ownership but there won’t be a change in the way the company is managed.

Meat  industry ​

“They decided this was the best way forward because they wanted to maintain their link with the meat industry.”

Jaffray and McCall have been working with ANM Group Chief Executive, Pat Machray, to restructure the meat division and bring the company back to a more stable position.

The spokesman said: “Jaffray and McCall have worked wonders. They’ve managed to get the company back to break-even point after suffering heavy losses by a lot of hard work and tightening up procedures.”

0The company has now returned to a position of break-even trading.

The spokesman said: “We’re hoping this will be finalised by the end of the year. The jobs are secure now.”

Earlier this year, the ANM Group closed the Sheffield site of its Yorkshire Premier Meats processing arm. Production was transferred to its site in South Kirby, West Yorkshire, due to what the company described as “unsustainable levels of losses” at Sheffield.

In May this year another ANM-owned company, Scotch Premier Meat, announced plans to cut 30 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures​ at its facility at Inverurie, Scotland.