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There has been more consolidation in the petcare market as manufacturer Fold Hill Foods snaps up baked dog food business Pointer Pet Products.

Established in 1959, Yorkshire-based Pointer started out producing dog mixer biscuits but has expanded its product range in recent years to include baked dog biscuit snacks and other treats. In addition to the typical single layer dog biscuit, Pointer also produces multi-layer biscuits, extruded biscuits and specialist custom biscuits.

Fold Hill said the acquisition came at a key time for the business, which is seeing rapid expansion in its Fold Hill and Chewdles range of pet foods, as well as its premium slow-baked Laughing Dog brand.

Fold Hill based in Lincolnshire, was founded by Ted Grant in 1979 on the family farm. The business, which is now run by his sons James and Andrew, employs more than 150 staff across its 3,000 acres of farmland and specialises in growing baby vegetables, cereal and, producing high-quality dog and cat food. Fold Hill generates revenues of close to £30m and produces 35,000 tonnes of pet food each year.

”Once again the Grant family has invested for the future of Fold Hill Foods,” said Brian Allen, general manager at Fold Hill Foods. ”We are very proud to bring such a well-respected brand into the Fold Hill family and look forward to combining forces with Pointer to drive new developments to bring new baked pet products to market. As one of the few pet food manufacturers now in Britain to make all of its own products, this is a very exciting time for a family run British manufacturer.”

The rapid growth in the sector for treats, premium, natural and dry products has attracted the attention of private equity investors and seen growing consolidation. Premium petfood manufacturer MPM Products, behind the Applaws and Encore brand, is the latest to seek new investment, as reported by The Grocer last month. And pet healthcare brand Bob Martin recently completed the acquisition of a pet care business from Nestlé.

Morning update

There is not much news to speak of this morning on the markets after a busy day of international earnings updates yesterday.

Ocado, which has a tough time of it of late with hedge funds betting heavily against the stock, has received a much-needed boost from US fund management giant The Capital Group. The long-term backer of the inline grocer has picked up another three million shares in the group to take its holding to more than 10%.

After another bloodbath for global markets yesterday, with billions being lost on the FTSE 100 alone, London’s leading shares opened up a perky 1.3% higher (or 74 points) to 5,610.6. Stocks which escaped the sell-off yesterday (Fyffes, Hilton Food Group and SSP Group) have all started the day in the red. 

There was better news for Ocado, which continues to see-saw (see below), as shares climbed 2.5% in early trading to 243.6p. Fever-Tree also bought back some of yesterday’s losses, rising 1.6% to 562.1p.

Yesterday in the City

It was another torrid day for the FTSE 100 with billions being wiped off the value of its constituents during morning trading as banking and mining shares were sold off in droves. The index clawed back some of the losses but still closed down more than 2% (123 points) to 5,549 – its lowest level for three years.

Grocery stocks on the blue-chip index, as well as the FTSE 250 and 350, were dragged into the quagmire with only a handful escaping the red.

Ingredients group Tate & Lyle (TATE) was the big faller of the day with its shares down more than 7% to 540p after it warned currency translations would hit full-year profits. The sucralose producer said underlying earnings expectations were unchanged at £193m but sharp falls in the Brazilian real and Mexican peso meant adjusted pre-tax profits were likely to come in below this figure.

Dairy Crest was also hit following the group’s first trading update since the completion of the dairies disposal. The stock fell more than 2% in early trading despite the business reiterating its full-year expectations, with its cheese and spreads brands all “performing well” in Q3. However, it recovered in the late afternoon to finish just 0.7% down at 600p.

2015 darling Fever-Tree (FEVR) continued to lose value, with investors piling out. The shares were down 7% to 553.5p yesterday and are 13.5% lower than at the start of week.

Ocado (OCDO) saw most of Wednesday’s gains wiped out with shares dropping 5% to 237.7p. Other notable fallers included Finsbury Food Group (FIF), PureCircle (PURE), and Poundland (PLND). The listed supermarkets were all 1% or more worse off by the end of the day.

Fyffes (FFY), Hilton Food Group (HFG), PZ Cussons (PZC), SSP Group (SSPG) and Greggs (GRG) all managed to keep their head above water.

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