UK meat packer Hilton Foods Group said today (10 January) that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Woolworths Ltd, Australia’s largest supermarket.
The deal establishes a new company, Woolworths Meat Co, in which Hilton Foods subsidiary Hilton Foods Asia Pacific Lts holds a 50% stake.
The firm will operate the Bunbury Meat Centre, which currently supplies 84 Woolworths stores in Western Australia with a range of fresh meat including beef, lamb and pork and value added products.
“The board of Hilton believes that good opportunities exist for further collaboration with Woolworths in Australia through the new joint venture,” Hilton said in a statement.
The UK meat group also revealed that its full-year performance was in line with expectations. The company said that its performance in the UK and Ireland was “solid” while sales in Sweden and Holland remained “steady”. In Denmark, the group’s automated picking facility is now successfully in place.
