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United Biscuits

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United Biscuits (UK) Limited
United Biscuits
FormerlyUnited Biscuits (Holdings) plc
TypePrivate, formerly Public
LSE: UB
IndustryFood
Founded18 March 1948; 78 years ago (1948-03-18)
SuccessorPladis[1]
Headquarters
United Kingdom Edit this on Wikidata
ProductsSweet and salty snacks
ParentYıldız Holding[2]

United Biscuits (UB) was a British food manufacturer best known for brands including McVitie's, Jacob's and Twiglets. In November 2014, the company was acquired by Yıldız Holding.[3] In January 2016, United Biscuits was brought together with Ülker, DeMet's Candy Company and Godiva under Pladis, Yildiz Holding's global snacking subsidiary.[4] United Biscuits' UK operating business was subsequently renamed Pladis (UK) Limited in November 2023.[5]

History

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United Biscuits (UB) was formed in 1948 by a merger of two Scottish family businesses: McVitie & Price and MacFarlane Lang.[6] In 1962, United Biscuits acquired William Crawford & Sons, a Scottish baker founded in Leith in 1813, for £6 million.[7] In 1965, the company also acquired William MacDonald & Sons for £2.8 million, and brought the Penguin brand to the group.[8]

The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange as United Biscuits plc on 27 July 1948.[9]

In 1972, United Biscuits acquired Carr's of Carlisle, makers of Table Water biscuits, from James Goldsmith's Cavenham Foods for £2.75 million.[10] Two years later, in 1974, it acquired the US-based Keebler Company for $53 million. It also owned the Wimpy Bar fast food restaurant chain between 1977 and 1989, before selling it off to Burger King.[11]

United Biscuits acquired the frozen food company Ross Young's from Hanson in 1988 for £335 million.[12]

It sold Keebler for $500 million in 1995 after giving up efforts to break into the American market.[13] In 1998 PepsiCo purchased Smith's Snackfood Company from United Biscuits.[14]

United Biscuits was de-listed from the London Stock Exchange and acquired in May 2000 by Finalrealm, a consortium of financial investors, as well as Nabisco Holdings Corporation. As part of the transaction, UB acquired Nabisco's European businesses[15] and divested several parts of its international business in Scandinavia, continental Europe, Asia (Keebler Malaysia and Singapore), several brands including TUC and 70% shareholding in Fazer Keksit (Biscuit) in Finland to Groupe Danone and Far East (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) to Nabisco.[16] The company sold Young's Bluecrest in 2001, in order to concentrate on the sweet biscuit sector.[17] In September 2004, United Biscuits bought the UK portion of Groupe Danone's Jacob's Biscuit Group for £240 million, including Cream Crackers and Twiglets.[18] In July 2006, the company sold its Southern European biscuits business to Kraft Foods, which in turn left the owner syndicate.[19]

In October 2006, MidOcean Partners sold the company to a consortium made up of the Blackstone Group and PAI Partners.[20] The deal was completed in December 2006.[21][22]

In December 2012, UB agreed the sale of its KP Snacks business to Intersnack for £500 million.[23] On 3 November 2014, private equity funds managed by Blackstone and PAI Partners announced the sale of United Biscuits to Yıldız Holding.[24]

Previous brands

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Jacob's

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McVities

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United Biscuits Network

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The United Biscuits Network, a closed-circuit radio network serving their factories across the UK which was active from 1970 to 1979, spawned the career of UK radio presenter Steve Allen and TV and radio personality Dale Winton.[26]

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In his 2009 book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Alain de Botton chronicles his tour and brief experiences with employees of United Biscuits as they launched the "Moments" biscuit line.[27]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Our heritage". pladis. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  2. ↑ pladis annual report 2025 (PDF) (Report). pladis. p. 141. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  3. ↑ Wood, Zoe (3 November 2014). "Jaffa Cakes and McVitie's maker sold to Turkish food group in £2bn deal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  4. ↑ Bamford, Vince (7 June 2016). "Pladis: Yildiz consolidates Godiva, Ulker, UB and DeMet's into new global business". BakeryAndSnacks.com. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  5. ↑ "PLADIS (UK) LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  6. ↑ "A New Biscuit Company." The Times [London, England] 19 March 1948: 9.
  7. ↑ "United Biscuits Crawfords For More Than £6M." The Times [London, England] 24 May 1962: 19.
  8. ↑ "£2.8M. Biscuit Merger." The Times [London, England] 21 January 1965: 22.
  9. ↑ "Archive issuer list 1999". Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Anthony Rowley. "Cavenham sell biscuit interests for £4m." The Times [London, England] 5 July 1972: 19.
  11. ↑ "Information on Wimpy's Franchise Archived 11 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine",Caterer Search. Retrieved on 29 January 2008.
  12. ↑ "History". United Biscuits. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  13. ↑ United Biscuits Sells Keebler for $500 Million
  14. ↑ No intervention in Smith's sale Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 21 August 1998
  15. ↑ "UB to weigh up its options". Eurofood. 25 April 2002.
  16. ↑ United Biscuits (holdings) Limited, 1999 Annual Report
  17. ↑ "United Biscuits selling Young's stake". Eurofood. 29 March 2001. Archived from the original on 25 May 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
  18. ↑ "Danone sells its UK biscuits to United". The Independent. 24 July 2004. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
  19. ↑ "City sandwich". The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  20. ↑ Parkinson, Gary (26 October 2006). "Private-equity companies snap up United Biscuits in a [pound]1.6bn". The Independent.
  21. ↑ "Blackstone and PAI complete purchase of UB" (Press release). United Biscuits. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
  22. ↑ "Cinven, MidOcean to sell United Biscuits" (Press release). Alt Assets. 25 October 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "KP Snacks snapped up by Intersnack in £500m deal". Manchester Evening News. 5 December 2012. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012.
  24. ↑ "Turkish food giant gobbles up United Biscuits". The Daily Telegraph. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  25. ↑ "United Bars are the eighties sweets we need to see back on our shelves". The Daily Edge. 9 February 2016.
  26. ↑ "Pick of the Pops Biography". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  27. ↑ "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work". The Economist. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
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