Young’s Seafood has been purchased by the pork processor Karro Food Group. A statement from the company says that they are aiming to create a new food group featuring multiple protein sources.
Separate businesses, one umbrella
The new food group will be overseen by CapVest, the owners of Karro. Karro and Young’s will become two distinct and separate businesses which operate independently of one another, but are part of the same umbrella group.
This group will enjoy sales of more than £1.2 billion a year, and will be responsible for the employment of more than 5,000 people over the breadth of the UK and Ireland. The food jobs are thought to be safe, with no changes of personnel planned, but those interested in working for either company can always check our job listings.
The only change we know of at this time is that Di Walker will step up from being the Karro Executive Chair to becoming the Chief Executive of the new, as yet unnamed group.
“Young’s and Karro are highly complementary businesses and the combined platform will have strong market positions in two important protein categories that are experiencing consistent long-term growth,” Walker said. “Today’s agreement will provide both businesses with the opportunity to further develop and broaden our relationships with our key partners.”
Strong foundation for the food industry
Bill Showalter remains the Chief Executive of Young’s. He was effusive about the positive effect this merger could have on the seafood industry as a whole, not just the single company affected. “With CapVest’s existing understanding of our industry, and as part of a multi-protein food group, we will have the opportunity to inspire more consumers to love fish through our fresh, frozen, own-label and branded products,” he said. “The transaction will build an even stronger foundation from which we can drive growth, providing exceptional quality fish and stand-out innovation to countries around the world.”
This is far from the only move made by Karro in recent years. In 2018, they purchased TS Bloor & Sons, a Leicestershire-based company, to help grow their value-added pork production business. Commenting on that move, Walker called it “highly strategic”.
CapVest certainly seem to have a lot of strategy in play, as Karro itself was only acquired relatively recently, in 2017. The sausage-maker seems to be a key part of their plan to push growth in a number of areas.
It remains to be seen what their next move will be, though it appears to be almost certain that it will be a bold one. If you are looking to work with a company like this, which has international links, you should take some advice and tips from our candidate section here. This will help you to prepare your CV and get ready for an interview, presenting yourself in the best possible way to be in with a good chance of getting hired.
As a company that seems to be fast on the rise, CapVest looks like a great target to aim for.
