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Iceland Seafood International has given notice that it will continue with Iceland Seafood UK operation in Grimsby for the present time
Iceland Seafood International has given notice that it will no longer be seeking to sell Iceland Seafood UK based in Grimsby, UK.
In a statement today entitled “Iceland Seafood UK continues operations as part of the Iceland Seafood Group” the multinational seafood processing company said that due to finding a buyer and after making significant progress with its strategic partners recovering unprecedented inflationary cost and adding a significant new business, it has seen better results which has been encouraging.
On 17 November 2022, Iceland Seafood International announced its intention to sell its England based subsidiary Iceland Seafood UK after it stated, “… it has been concluded that the UK operation is not a strategic fit for Iceland Seafood anymore…”.
Iceland Seafood UK had invested in operating facilities in Grimsby and merged its operations from Bradford and Grimsby into this location. The investment and decision of the merger was completed in March 2020, just before Covid-19 started, and the renovation and installation of the factory was very much affected by Covid and later Brexit along with difficulties in overall operations, said its parent company.
On 05 December 2022 a letter of intent was signed to sell the subsidiary and at least one offer was made, but in turn this was declined as it did not meet Iceland Seafood International’s valuation.
The company has now decided that for now it is of more value for them to keep the subsidiary as it stated:
“Reference is made to the Q2, 2022 announcement where Iceland Seafood International (ISI) announced it would review its UK strategy. On November 17, Iceland Seafood announced its intention to exit the UK market from a value-added perspective. During December 2022, two LOI’s were signed with prospective buyers to sell the business, but neither negotiation turned out to be successful. After careful considerations the board of Iceland Seafood has decided to put the sale process on hold and continue to operate the UK subsidiary.
“In an industry where consolidation is needed, Iceland Seafood made it public late last year it was interested in selling the UK business. It is however the conclusion of the board of Directors that the proposals received didn’t reflect the value of the company, as external conditions for the industry have been challenging.
“Recently, Iceland Seafood UK (IS UK) has made significant progress with its strategic partners recovering unprecedented inflationary cost and adding a significant new business. Therefore, the company foresees better results, driven by the above, in addition to returns on investments in equipment, that will increase its ability to grow and reduce unit costs. Markets are stabilising, after the high volatility and constant upward cost pressure experienced throughout last year, which severely impacted the results of IS UK in 2022.
“IS UK will continue to cooperate closely with its loyal customers and suppliers.
“Iceland Seafood will review its strategy on an ongoing basis and remains interested to support further consolidation of the UK business at the right time and terms.”
