NORTHERN Foods has sold its Fox's Confectionery business to a management buy-in team.
Northern, parent company of Dalepak Foods, of Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, has sold the business to Big Bear Limited for £7m.
The transaction sees well-known brands, including Fox's Glacier Mints and Fruits, Paynes Poppets, Just Brazils and XXX Mints change hands.
The deal comes less than a week after Northern's chief executive Jo Stewart resigned in the wake of a profits warning.
Group pre-tax profits for the first half, excluding one-off costs, are expected to be significantly lower than the comparable period last year, the company said.
This has been blamed on performance in convenience foods reflecting "very challenging" trading conditions, the impact of the hot summer and margin pressures caused by raw material cost inflation.
Northern acquired the Fox's Glacier Mints business from Nestle UK for £8m in 2001, and subsequently integrated it into its Paynes confectionery operation, which it had purchased in 1998 for £9.8m.
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