Richmond Foods revealed yesterday [Wednesday] that it has axed 320 jobs at its facilities across the UK, but promised consumers a return of the Mivvi fruit lolly with an ice-cream centre, once its acquisition of the UK ice-cream business of Nestlé has been completed.


Chairman Ross Warburton welcomed the acquisition as a means to enable Richmond to balance its large supermarket private label business with a strategic plan to increase its number of brands, as Nestlé’s products merge with its small Treats label.


The job cuts have meanwhile come with the closure of the Nestlé manufacturing plant at Telford, a York-based administration centre and an ice-cream plant in Ashford, Kent. All closures were made as the company plans to take advantage of the synergies following the acquisition.
 
Richmond also reported a 25% increase in sales to £88.5m (US$126.23m) for the full year to 30 September, and profits that pre-exceptionals and a long-term incentive plan, had risen from £3.77m to £5.02m.