Premier Foods Looks to Raise Prices as Pound Falls and Costs Rise
10 January 2017 - 11:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Tapan Panchal
LONDON--British food manufacturer Premier Foods PLC (PFD.LN) has
confirmed that it in talks with customers to raise prices in order
to mitigate the impact of higher commodity costs and a weak
pound.
"The situation on pricing differs between our different
categories and brands and is currently under discussion with our
individual retail customers. However, on average we are considering
rises around the mid single digit mark," the owner of Mr. Kipling
cake and OXO stock cube brands said in an emailed statement
received Tuesday.
A spokesman for the company said the price increase would be the
last resort and the company is currently looking at other ways to
cope with higher costs, including altering promotions and sizes of
various products.
Premier Foods, whose major customers include supermarket chains
such as Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN), J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN), Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. (WMT) unit Asda and Waitrose, is the second major food
producer to raise prices, after Unilever PLC (ULVR.LN).
Unilever said in October 2016 that it had asked its top
customers for price increases on its products, including Hellmann's
mayonnaise, Marmite spread, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice
cream. It also cited fall in the value of the pound and higher
commodity costs for the price increase.
Shares of Premier Foods at 1055 GMT were trading 1.10% lower at
45 pence each.
Write to Tapan Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 10, 2017 07:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
J Sainsbury (QX) (USOTC:JSAIY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2024 to Oct 2024
J Sainsbury (QX) (USOTC:JSAIY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024
Real-Time news about J Sainsbury Plc (QX) (OTCMarkets): 0 recent articles
More J Sainsbury (QX) News Articles