Weetabix to invest £30m keeping up with appetite for healthy breakfast
The UK’s top-selling cereal brand has announced plans to increase production capacity at sites in Burton Latimer and Corby by 2018.
The investment will allow Weetabix to boost manufacturing volumes in response to a rise in the brand’s UK cereal and drinks market share from 15.3 to 16.4 per cent in 2016. Rising sales of Weetabix in 2016 were boosted by the launch of a high-protein variety of the breakfast biscuit in March which contributed £7m to sales last year.
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In sharp contrast to cost-cutting measures that have shrunk the company’s global workforce by 13 per cent since 2012, the investment will see new manufacturing jobs added to the 800 Weetabix currently has in the UK.
Last week Nestle, PepsiCo and Lucky Charms owner General Mills were tipped to be interested in bidding for the cereal brand, which was valued at £1.2bn when Shanghai-based Bright Food bought 60 per cent of it in 2012. The current owner, which is owned by the Chinese government, has hired Goldman Sachs to carry out the deal.