Associated British Foods plc is a British multinational food processing and retailing
company whose headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. Its ingredients division is
the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major producer
of other ingredients including emulsifiers, enzymes and lactose. Its grocery division
is a major manufacturer of both branded and private label grocery products and includes
the brands Mazola, Ovaltine, Ryvita, Jordans and Twinings. Its retail division, Primark,
has around 200 stores with over 6,500,000 sq ft of selling space across Austria, Belgium,
Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK.
Associated British Foods is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent
of the FTSE 100 Index.
History The company was founded by Canadian W. Garfield
Weston in 1935, initially as Food Investments Limited, with the name changing to Allied
Bakeries Limited a month later. In 1960 the name was changed again to Associated British
Foods. In 1963 the Company acquired Fine Fare, a leading British supermarket chain. Following
the death of the founder in 1978, control of the company was passed on to his son Garry,
while the North American operations fell to his son Galen.
The company sold Fine Fare in 1986 and in 1991 went on to acquire British Sugar. In
1997 ABF sold its retail operations in Northern Ireland and the Republic to Tesco. These businesses
were: Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices in the Republic of Ireland and Stewarts Supermarkets
Ltd and Crazy Prices in Northern Ireland. This sale also included the Stewarts Winebarrel
off-licence chain, Lifestyle Sports & Leisure Ltd, Kingsway Fresh Foods and Daily Wrap Produce.
In 2000 the company sold its interests in Burton's Biscuits. In 2002, it acquired the
Mazola corn oil, Argo & Kingsfords corn starch, Karo and Golden Griddle syrups, and Henri’s
dressing brands, along with several Canadian brands, from Unilever; in 2004 it acquired
the Tone's spice business and Fleischman yeast business from Burns Philp; and in 2007 it
purchased Patak's Indian food business. On 26 March 2011 Associated British Foods,
and its parent company Wittington Investments, were targeted over tax avoidance by UK Uncut
during anti-cuts protests. The tax avoidance scheme involved moving capital between ABF/Primark
and the affiliated Luxembourg entity ABF European Holdings & Co SNC by means of interest-free
loans, avoiding tax of about £9.7 million per year. The protest took the form of a mass
sit-in in Fortnum & Mason. In February 2013, the firm was forced to deny
“illegal and immoral” tax evasion after it was accused by an international charity
of moving its profits outside of Zambia to reduce its tax bill. ActionAid said Zambia
Sugar, a unit of AB Foods, had made profits of $123 million since 2007 but had paid "virtually
no corporate tax" in Zambia. In October 2013, the company denied being
involved in unscrupulous uses of land, in an article containing reports of forced evictions
by other companies. Operations
Brands
Allinson Argo cornstarch
Aladino Peanut Butter Capullo
Dromedary cake mixes Fleischmann's
Karo corn syrup Kingsmill bread
Mazola corn oil Ovaltine
Patak's Ryvita
Silver Spoon Spice Islands
Sunblest Tone's Spices
Twinings Subsidiaries
AB Agri Ltd AB Mauri
Abitec Corporation Abitec Ltd
ACH Food Companies, an American subsidiary of Associated British Foods, previously part
of Kraft Foods from 1952 to 1995. Alimentos Capullo, the Mexican subsidiary
Allied Mills British Sugar
Frontier George Weston Foods
G Costa: sauces and ethnic brands Illovo Sugar
Primark – known as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland
Westmill Foods PGP International, Inc.
SPI Pharma, Inc. Board of Directors
Charles Sinclair, Chairman. George G. Weston, Chief Executive Officer.
John Bason, Finance Director. Peter Smith, Independent non-executive director.
Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, Independent non-executive director.
Timothy Clarke, Independent non-executive director.
Javier Ferrán, Independent non-executive director.
Emma Adamo, Independent non-executive director. Controlling shareholder
Some 54.5% of ABF is owned by Wittington Investments. 79.2% of the share capital of Wittington Investments
is owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, which is one of the UK largest grant-making
charitable trusts, and the remainder is owned by members of the Weston family. Wittington
Investments also owns Fortnum & Mason and Heal & Son. George G. Weston became chief
executive of ABF on 1 April 2005, and Galen Weston, the chief executive of George Weston
Ltd., is a non-executive director. Garth Weston is Regional President of AB Mauri.
See also
References
External links Official website