TIDMKYGA

RNS Number : 3152C

Kerry Group PLC

18 June 2021

Date: 17 June 2021

LEI: 635400TLVVBNXLFHWC59

KERRY GROUP

Kerry reaches agreement for the sale of its Consumer Foods' Meats and Meals business to Pilgrim's Pride Corporation for EUR819m.

Kerry Group plc today announces that it has reached agreement to sell its Consumer Foods' Meats and Meals business in the UK and Ireland to Pilgrim's Pride Corporation for a cash consideration of EUR819m (GBP704m(1)) subject to routine closing adjustments. The Meats and Meals business is a best-in-class provider of convenience food solutions, with leading brands and longstanding relationships with major retailers. The financial results for the year ended 31 December 2020 attributable to the business were revenue of EUR828m, EBITDA of EUR86m, profit before tax of EUR63m, and gross assets of EUR521m (2) .

The Meats business is a leading manufacturer of branded and private label meats, meat snacks, food-to-go and meat-free products in the UK and Ireland. Its brands include Richmond, Denny, Galtee, Fridge Raiders and Rollover. The Meals business primarily serves the UK market and specialises in authentic ethnic chilled and frozen ready meals, multi-cuisine ready to cook ranges, and home delivery meals under the Oakhouse brand.

Edmond Scanlon, CEO of Kerry, commented "Kerry's strategy for the past 30 years has been to continuously evolve our portfolio, as we progressed on our journey to becoming a market-leading Taste & Nutrition company. This transaction further enhances Kerry's focus as a leading business to business ingredient solutions provider for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets. Pilgrim's is a global provider of high-quality food products and I am convinced they will make an excellent future owner of the Meats and Meals business. I wish to thank the 4,500 employees of the business for their contribution to Kerry over many years."

Fabio Sandri, CEO of Pilgrim's, commented "We are pleased to have the opportunity to position Pilgrim's as a leading prepared foods and branded products player through this acquisition. We look forward to welcoming Kerry Consumer Foods' Meats and Meals business' talented management team and other team members, led by Nick Robinson, to the Pilgrim's family, and we look forward to working together to drive growth and deliver value for all of our stakeholders."

Nick Robinson, CEO of Kerry Consumer Foods, added "Our companies share a rich heritage in food production with aligned values that put people and customers at the heart of all we do. We look forward to working with our new colleagues to build upon the fantastic progress of these businesses and realise our combined growth opportunities as we enter an exciting new phase."

The proceeds from the sale will be used for general corporate purposes and the continued strategic development of the Taste & Nutrition business. The transaction is expected to close in the final quarter subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Following today's announcement, we will separate and realign the remaining dairy-related activities within the Consumer Foods Business. The strategic review of the dairy business has been completed and there will be no disposal of the dairy business at this time.

About Kerry Group

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition partner for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. We innovate with our customers to create great tasting products, with improved nutrition and functionality, while ensuring better impact for the planet. Our leading consumer insights, global RD&A team of 1,000+ food scientists and local manufacturing footprint in 31 countries enable us to co-create with our customers across over 150 countries. At Kerry, we are driven to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition, and will reach over 2 billion consumers with sustainable nutrition solutions by 2030. For more information, vi sit www.kerrygroup. com.

About Pilgrim's

As a global food company with more than 58,000 team members, Pilgrim's processes, prepares, packages and delivers fresh, frozen and value-added food products for customers in more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.pilgrims.com.

Note: The sale constitutes a Class 2 transaction for the purposes of the Euronext Dublin Listing Rules and the UK Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules.

(1) GBP704m comprises an enterprise value of GBP680m and working capital and net debt adjustments of approximately GBP24m. The cash consideration of EUR819m is based on the prevailing exchange rate of GBP0.86: EUR1 on 17 June 2021.

(2) Represents gross assets the subject of the transaction of EUR185m plus attributable goodwill and intangibles of EUR336m.

 
   CONTACT INFORMATION 
  ============================================= 
 
   Investor Relations 
   Marguerite Larkin , Chief Financial 
    Officer 
   +353 66 7182292 | investorrelations@kerry.ie 
 
   William Lynch , Head of Investor 
    Relations 
   +353 66 7182292 | investorrelations@kerry.ie 
 
   Media 
   Catherine Keogh , Chief Corporate 
    Affairs & Brand Officer 
   +353 45 930188 | corpaffairs@kerry.com 
 
   Website 
   www.kerrygroup.com

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