Northern Foods to sell 40 per cent of its business

Northern Foods will put 40% of its business up for sale, and focusing on biscuits, Christmas puddings, pizzas, ready meals and sandwiches. Therewith the company hopes to become more competitive after announcing a €7.3m loss for the financial year ended 1 April 2006. The manufacturer of Fox s biscuits is struggling amidst sliding sales and margins as its supermarket clients adopt tough bargaining positions on prices and consumers change preferences. About 75% of the company s revenue comes from the five largest retailers in the UK.