Dairy Crest Regulatory News (DCG)

19 Jul 2007 07:00

Dairy Crest Group PLC19 July 2007 19 July 2007 Dairy Crest Group plc Interim Management Statement and Appointment of non-executive directors At the Dairy Crest Group plc Annual General Meeting, to be held at 11.00am thismorning, Simon Oliver, the Chairman, will make the following statement oncurrent trading and Board changes: "Dairy Crest has had a strong trading performance in the first three months ofthe current financial year. The Group's expectations for the full year ending 31March 2008 remain unchanged. In the Foods division we have seen good performances so far from a number of thekey brands including Cathedral City, St Hubert Omega 3, Petits Filous, CountryLife Spreadable and Utterly Butterly. The St Hubert business continues to makegood progress and has again increased its market share in France. As previouslystated much of our current research and new product development activities arefocused on developing our health agenda. Out of our recent healthier productlaunches the initial volumes of Cathedral City Lighter are particularlyencouraging. At the end of May 2007 we initiated a product recall for Clover spread. This wasthe result of product quality issues. Clover was back on sale in stores by themiddle of June and sales are returning towards normal levels. As previouslydisclosed we expect the majority of the costs associated with the recall to becovered by the Group's insurance. As part of the process of getting Clover back on sale we have been implementinga range of improvement plans at the factory. Whilst these plans are progressingwell the work involved is impacting current service levels. Once theimprovements are completed we plan to rebuild stock levels and then startpromotional activity again. Our Dairies business continues to make progress particularly in our efforts totake costs out of our operations. For example we are on track to ceaseproduction at Totnes in September when processing will be moved to our otherdairies. In Household, we have recently commenced a trial of our new service deliverymodel; 'Milk & More' in our Surbiton depot. This is a modernised home deliveryservice delivered by our milkmen offering our customers a wider range of goodsincluding locally grown and organic products. Importantly, it also allowscustomers to communicate with us by e-mail and through the internet for next daydeliveries by 8am - a unique capability of our distribution network. We will berolling out further trials of this service in selected depots during the year. The world markets for skimmed milk powder and bulk butter are particularlystrong. These markets have allowed us to increase the prices that we are payingour producers for their milk. We increased our prices for raw milk on liquid andmanufacturing contracts by 0.4 pence per litre from the beginning of July. Wehave also recently announced a further increase of 0.6 pence per litre on thesecontracts with effect from 1 August. Dairy Crest is also announcing today the appointment of three new non-executivedirectors; Carole Piwnica, Anthony Fry and Neil Monnery with effect from 1August 2007. We are delighted to welcome them to the Board and we will benefitenormously from their varied business backgrounds and experience. As previously announced two existing non-executive directors will retire fromthe Board. David Dugdale has decided not to seek re-election at today's AnnualGeneral Meeting. Gerry Grimstone, who has been a non-executive director since1999, will retire from the Board on 31 July 2007. Howard Mann will succeed Gerryas the senior independent non-executive director on that date. We thank bothDavid and Gerry for their exceptional contributions to the Group and wish themwell for the future." For further information, please contact: Dairy Crest Group plcWill Shaw, Investors 01372 472477Nicole Lander, Media 01372 472419 BrunswickSimon Sporborg 020 7404 5959Laura Cummings Notes to editors: 1. Carole Piwnica, aged 49, practices law in Europe and the United Statesas a senior consultant to private equity fund, NAXOS Capital Partners. She hasbeen a non-executive director of Aviva plc since 2003, and is also a member ofthe Biotech Advisory Council of Monsanto since 2006. Carole has been anon-executive director of Toepfer, a grain trading company based in Hamburgsince 1996. From 1996 to 2000 she was an executive director of Tate & Lyle plcand a non-executive director and Vice Chairman from 2000 to 2006, with a specialinvolvement in government affairs. Previously she held general managementpositions and board memberships in various European food companies and wasChairman of Amylum Group. 2. Anthony Fry, aged 52, is a Senior Adviser at Lehman Brothers, and hasover 25 years experience in investment banking. From 2004 to 2006 he was Head ofLehman Brothers' UK Investment Banking business, having previously run theglobal media business of Credit Suisse First Boston where he advised major UKand international clients. For 18 years he was an Executive Director with theRothschild Group and for 5 years ran their corporate finance business inMelbourne. His previous non-executive directorships include Mowlem plc (1998 to2006) and Southern Water plc (1994 to 1996). 3. Neil Monnery, aged 46, is the Group Strategy Director of WH Smith and amember of the Group Executive Committee. He previously spent 20 years at theBoston Consulting Group ('BCG') where he was Head of the UK Consumer and Retailpractice from 1994 to 2004. Between 1995 and 2000 he also led BCG's EuropeanCorporate Development practice which focuses on corporate strategy, shareholdervalue, M&A and post merger integration. He was Chairman of WH Smith News from2004 to 2006. There is no further information to be disclosed in respect of the above underparagraphs 9.6.13 (1) to (6) of the Listing Rules. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange