Birmingham-headquartered food giant 2 Sisters has confirmed it is in talks to buy an additional site in the East Midlands which was previously occupied by a £44m-turnover Indian snacks maker that collapsed in October leading to hundreds of job losses.
S&A Foods was established in 1987 and made Indian and ethnic cuisine from its base on Derby’s Sir Francis Ley Industrial Estate.
Administrators from Deloitte were called into the business on 27 October 2015. It then ceased to trade and about 300 workers were made redundant.
At the time, S&A founder Perween Warsi said the “root cause” of the administration was a decision by Asda to transfer its supply of chilled ready meals to another business.
A statement from 2 Sisters confirmed the group’s interest in the manufacturing site and said it was the “lead interested party” in regards to striking a deal.
It added that it is now “undertaking the necessary due process” and will provide further updates when the sale is complete.
2 Sisters’ primary operation is poultry processing. It also produces red meat, frozen products, chilled foods and biscuits from across its 36 production sites.
The news comes weeks after the group pledged to invest £150m across its poultry business in a bid to “revolutionise” the division. It is also pumping £55m into its ready meals operation.
2 Sisters currently has a number of bases in the East Midlands, including Matthew Walker in Heanor, Gunstones Bakery in Derbyshire and Salway Foods in Nottinghamshire. It also has a testing facility in Nottingham.
It is unclear what operation the potential new Derby site will house.
Source: Insider Media
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