Vion Food Group

Losses at Vion UK hit £50m by the time it exited the country

Losses at Vion Food UK – the company that covered Vion UK’s former pork, poultry and head office operations – had reached nearly £50m when Vion withdrew from the UK last December, newly filed accounts show.

Turnover for the company’s continuing operations fell by 0.8% to £507.2m during the course of 2012, down from £511.5m in 2011. Meanwhile, losses after tax increased by 27% year on year to £49.9m compared with £39.4m in 2011, according to filings with Companies House.

Parts of Vion Food UK were sold to private-equity firm Endless in a management buyout in December 2012, resulting in the creation of a new business called Karro Food.

Although parts of Vion Food UK were now called Karro, the results filed with Companies House were not representative of the health of the current Karro business, a spokeswoman for Karro said. “Most notably, the 2012 numbers include Vion UK’s poultry business, now owned by 2 Sisters. The numbers also include multiple other entities that are not part of the new Karro business, including the Hall’s operation and Vion’s head office operations.”

Karro’s current business also included elements that were not part of Vion Food UK, the performance of which was not reflected in the numbers, but would be part of Karro’s accounts from 2013 onwards, she added.

Dutch-owned Vion announced its exit from the UK in November 2012 to focus on its core markets of the Netherlands and Germany as well as its global ingredients operations.