2 Sisters buys Lloyd Maunder

MTJ first reported the sale two weeks ago, but the companies have only now confirmed it is going ahead.

Lloyd Maunder, based at Willand in mid-Devon, pioneered the production of poultry for the retail market 50 years ago. Today it is the UK's leading producer of specialist poultry, retailed in supermarkets nationwide.

2 Sisters Food Group, based in the West Midlands, is a leading European food company supplying chicken products to the retail, food service and food manufacturing sectors. It has annual sales of more than half a billion pounds and 4,500 staff employed across 12 sites in the UK, plus operations in Holland and the USA.

2 Sisters Food Group has purchased Lloyd Maunder for an undisclosed sum, with plans to expand the business, which already dominates poultry production in the South West.

"We're planning to develop the operation further as a regional centre of excellence for specialist poultry production," said Ranjit Singh, founder and CEO of 2 Sisters Food Group. "Lloyd Maunder has been a leading light in the UK poultry industry for 50 years and we'll be looking to build on that success. By acquiring such a good production base in the south west, we can now offer national pricing to our customers, but via local sourcing. This is good news for our carbon footprint."

Lloyd Maunder's current directors Peter, Andrew and Richard Maunder are all remaining with the company.

"Ultimately this is good news for poultry production in the region," said Andrew Maunder. "We are all staying on to work with 2 Sisters Food Group, which we hope will help make it as smooth a transition as possible. There will obviously be changes ahead but I believe these will be favourable, creating lots of opportunity over the coming months and years."

Lloyd Maunder employs 800 staff at its Willand site and works with 157 family run farms to produce 500,000 chickens a week. Details of how the 2 Sisters Food Group acquisition will affect Lloyd Maunder will be established in the coming weeks.

Lloyd Maunder's chain of 15 butchers shops in Devon and Cornwall is not included in the acquisition, and will continue trading under the ownership and management of Lloyd Maunder Holdings.

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