The timing of the announcement that Uniq is to close some of its desserts business with the loss of 350 jobs, beforeGreencore takes over the reins, was good news for the Irish sandwich maker.
It didn’t stop Unite trade union from blaming Greencore, however, accusing it of executing a “predatory takeover” in the style of Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury.
Greencore would be forgiven for not being a little chuffed at being compared to the big boy of the corporate food world. Nonetheless, Patrick Coveney and his team,are still left with a sizeable desserts business to contend with. The off-loaded business is only about a quarter of Uniq’s desserts division. How the acquisition of a sizeable desserts business will fit in with Greencore’s focus on sandwiches and chilled meals will be interesting.
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Myles Lee (pictured) could be forgiven for taking cover. As if the sudden downpour which sent him running ahead of the recent CRH interims wasn’t bad enough, analysts see a distinctly overcast short-term outlook for the sector.
In a note this week, CRH’s own broker, Davy, projected negative cement volumes in the US, a key market for the Irish building materials group.
Elsewhere, things are likely to be little better with no growth expected in Europe and little in developing markets – all of which will exert continuing downward pressure on prices and margins for suppliers.
The one ray of sunlight for Lee is that Davy sees CRH and its rival Heidelberg Cement as the more attractive options for investors in the challenging climate.
