Британдық сүт өнімдері компаниясының тарихы

British dairy products company

Dairy Crest processed and sold milk (wholesale and via doorstep deliveries) and owned the milkshake brand Frijj until the sale of that part of the business to Germany's Müller in 2015. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange as Dairy Crest plc, until it was acquired by Saputo in 2019. Saputo rebranded the company under its own name later that year.

Dairy Crest was established in 1981 as the milk processing arm of the Milk Marketing Board. In 1983, the company launched Clover, a dairy spread. The company sold the majority of its own label cheese business to its Scottish equivalent First Milk in 2006, along with the creameries and factory that produce most of the products concerned. In 2007, Dairy Crest bought St Hubert for £248 million, securing the Cholegram, Le Fleurier, Omega 3 and Vallé brands, which were subsequently sold in 2012 to Montagu Private Equity for €430 million (£347 million).

Dairy Crest sold its doorstep milk delivery operations in the North West of England in July 2013 to Creamline Dairies who now operate the milk rounds from the depots in Warrington, Flixton, Stockport and Macclesfield and Mortons operate all those in Wirral, Chester and Liverpool. Dairy Crest announced a big slump in profits on 6 November 2014 which was down 95% to £900,000 in the six months to September. The company agreed the sale of its entire legacy milk business, which processes and distributes milk, as well as the Frijj milkshake brand, to Germany's Müller for £80 million, enabling it to be combined with Müller's existing subsidiary, Müller Wiseman Dairies. The sale was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority on 19 October 2015, and completed the following December.

It was announced in 2019 that Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc would be buying Dairy Crest. The company was valued at £975 million, making each share worth 620p. The transaction was completed on 15 April 2019. At the time of the sale, Dairy Crest was the fourth largest dairy company in the UK based on turnover. Saputo renamed the business under its own brand in July 2019, though Dairy Crest Limited remained the principal legal entity. Spread brands include Clover, Country Life, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite and Willow. Davidstow Creamery in Cornwall has been run by the company since 1981. At Truro Crown Court in December 2021, Dairy Crest admitted charges relating to a series of incidents of serious pollution between December 2015 and January 2021, including the illegal discharge of "biological sludge" and "suspended solids" from its creamery at Davidstow into the River Inny, Cornwall. Fines of £1.52 million were imposed on the company in June 2022. Plans for the Crudgington Creamery to close were announced in 2012. The Creamery closed in May 2014, when production of spreads was concentrated at Kirkby while the research and development facility was transferred to an innovation centre built by the company at Harper Adams University.