Insider Media Limited

Chilled dessert business Uniq, which has manufacturing sites in Northampton and Spalding, has reported a "transformation" of its balance sheet after a restructuring which removed its pension deficit. It comes ahead of its planned takeover by Irish food business Greencore.

In its half-year results to 30 June 2011 reported this morning (16 September 2011), the company also confirmed plans to cut up to 350 jobs at its Shropshire site by June 2012. Its Everyday desserts business unit is closing but Uniq wants to keep 100 members of staff at the plant to make chocolate desserts.

Uniq Irish-based Greencore announced in July it planned to buy Uniq. The Office of Fair Trading is expected to make a ruling on the plans by the end of the month.

Profit before tax for the half-year for the company was £69.2m - up from a loss of £8.6m in the corresponding period in 2010. Revenue was £151.8m - down from 2010's £156.3m but operating profit before significant items and group costs improved by 47 per cent to £4.7m.

Its sandwich business, which provides products to Marks & Spencer, had also been boosted with an £800,000 growth in profitability though dessert sales have dropped by 8.2 per cent.

Uniq hailed the discharge of its pension deficit of more than £400m to its pension fund in April 2011 for being behind its results. Then, it removed the deficit in exchange for a 90.2 per cent shareholding in the company and a cash payment to the pension scheme of £14m.

It said this led to the removal of £146.2m of the pension accounting liability and the issue of £66.7m-worth of new shares which helped the company clinch a £25m banking facility.

Uniq makes sandwiches from a site in Northampton, salads at Spalding and desserts at Evercreech, Somerset and Minsterley in Shropshire.