Young's Bluecrest
Encyclopedia
Young's Seafood Ltd. is a British
producer and distributor of frozen, fresh, and chilled seafood, supplying approximately 40% of all the fish eaten in the United Kingdom
every year. It is headquartered in Grimsby
, England
.
The company as it is today was formed through the merger of Young's and Bluecrest in 1999. It is privately-owned by venture capital
concern Lion Capital LLP
who purchased the parent company
Foodvest (part of CapVest) in July, 2008. It is a major player in the European seafood industry and also owner of sister company, Findus AB
, based in Malmö
, Sweden.
.
The Young's Foodservice subsidiary focuses on the restaurant and catering industry whilst Polarfrost Seafoods specializes in fish frozen at sea.
Sister business, The Seafood Company, now specialises in chilled fish for UK retailers own label.
quays. In 1811, Martha married William Timothy Young, a member of a fishing family based on the River Thames
since the mid-18th century, thus combining their fishing and selling businesses. The business prospered and later moved downriver to Leigh-on-Sea
.
By the end of the 19th century the business, under William Joseph Young, had become a prominent fish merchanting and wholesaling company, operating its own fleet of small boats primarily for fishing whitebait
and shrimp
. In 1890, the company moved its headquarters to London
to begin supply the city's catering market - a move boosted after 1895 when a railway connecting Leigh-on-Sea to London was built, enabling the morning catch to arrive in the city before lunchtime.
Young's expanded throughout the 1920s, becoming one of the first companies in England to import salmon
and debuting the company's most successful product, potted shrimp
.
The next generation of the Young family - brothers Gordon, Stanley, Douglas, and Malcolm - took over in the late 1930s and set up a new subsidiary for its wholesaling business. Another subsidiary added dockside purchasing and processing operations in Grimsby
, which later emerged as the United Kingdom's (and for a time, the world's) busiest fishing port. By the 1950s, the company had built five production facilities for its potted shrimp production.
. Young's, however, maintained its own operations, and especially its nationally known brand name, and members of the Young family remained in charge of the company's direction.
Ross's and Young's frozen foods operations grew strongly through the 1960s. A new network of distribution depots was set up, and a number of wholesalers throughout the country were acquired. By the middle of the decade the group's share of the UK's frozen food sector topped 5 percent in the retail channel, and as much as 13 percent in the catering market.
The Ross Group's trawling operations, however, were losing money throughout the decade and, in 1969, the group agreed to be acquired by Imperial Tobacco - as part of which process Ross's trawling business was spun off into British United Trawlers. Ross was renamed Imperial Foods (a division of the newly renamed Imperial Group) but both the Ross and Young's names survived as independently operating divisions of the new company.
As part of Imperial, Young's invested to expand capacity and developed a new centralized distribution system. By the middle of the 1970s, Young's sales had more than doubled, topping £23 million in 1974, and the company was operating 18 factories.
Plc (UB). UB lost out to fast-growing conglomerate Hanson
in its attempt to acquire Imperial, but Hanson was interested only in Imperial's tobacco holdings and sold Ross Young's to UB in 1988. Under UB's ownership, Young's was redeveloped as a standalone division. However, by the late 1990s, UB was restructuring its business to focus on core brands. In 1999 it decided to sell Young's to a management buyout backed by Legal & General
Ventures (LGV).
Once combined with LGV's other UK seafood group the newly created Young's Bluecrest became the UK's leading specialist fish business.
LGV, however, declined to back this expansion, and instead, in 2002, sold Young's Bluecrest to a new management buyout, this time backed by CapVest. The newly-capitalised company made its first acquisition (of the chilled seafood division of Albert Fisher, based in Newcastle), in June 2003. Purchases of the Pinegain Group and its Marr Foods division followed in October 2003; and Young's bought a 34 percent stake in Macrae Food Group, the largest dedicated producer of ready-to-eat seafood in Scotland in September 2004. Expansion and refurbishment of its Humber
, Grimsby
and Edinburgh
operations followed during 2005 and 2006.
operations from EQT Partners in January 2006 boosted Young's total sales to an estimated £1 billion ($1.7 billion), confirming the company's position as the leader in the UK frozen fish sector, having surpassed rivals Bird's Eye, owned by Permira
.
ASA; Aker
ASA; Maruha Corporation; Unilever
Deutschland GmbH; Icelandic Group Seachill; hf; Perkins Foods Holdings Ltd.; Green Isle Food Group Ltd.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
producer and distributor of frozen, fresh, and chilled seafood, supplying approximately 40% of all the fish eaten in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
every year. It is headquartered in Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The company as it is today was formed through the merger of Young's and Bluecrest in 1999. It is privately-owned by venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
concern Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm, primarily focusing on leveraged buyout investments in Europe. The firm specializes on investments in the consumer sector...
who purchased the parent company
Parent company
A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
Foodvest (part of CapVest) in July, 2008. It is a major player in the European seafood industry and also owner of sister company, Findus AB
Findus
Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.- Origins :...
, based in Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, Sweden.
Market areas
Most of the group's sales are of its Young's brand of frozen and chilled fish, shrimp, and shellfish. The company is also the owner of Macrae in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The Young's Foodservice subsidiary focuses on the restaurant and catering industry whilst Polarfrost Seafoods specializes in fish frozen at sea.
Sister business, The Seafood Company, now specialises in chilled fish for UK retailers own label.
History
Prior to the merger with Bluecrest, Young's itself had been the result of a number of takeovers and management buyouts.Early History
The 1805 foundation of Young's is based on that being the year when one Elizabeth Martha began selling fish on the GreenwichGreenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
quays. In 1811, Martha married William Timothy Young, a member of a fishing family based on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
since the mid-18th century, thus combining their fishing and selling businesses. The business prospered and later moved downriver to Leigh-on-Sea
Leigh-on-Sea
Leigh-on-Sea , sometimes called Leigh, is a civil parish in Essex, England. It is part of Southend-on-Sea for administrative purposes. It became a civil parish in 1996. The council tax was increased to support it. A town council was formed. Leigh is the only parish in Southend...
.
By the end of the 19th century the business, under William Joseph Young, had become a prominent fish merchanting and wholesaling company, operating its own fleet of small boats primarily for fishing whitebait
Whitebait
Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between 25 and 50 millimetres long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along the coast, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught with fine meshed fishing nets...
and shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
. In 1890, the company moved its headquarters to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to begin supply the city's catering market - a move boosted after 1895 when a railway connecting Leigh-on-Sea to London was built, enabling the morning catch to arrive in the city before lunchtime.
Young's expanded throughout the 1920s, becoming one of the first companies in England to import salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
and debuting the company's most successful product, potted shrimp
Potted shrimp
Potted Shrimp is an instrumental blues-influenced musical recording by the rock band Rolling Stones recorded at Stargroves during 1970. Although never released on any official album, the tune appears on several out-takes compilations including The Trident Mixes, No Spare Parts: Through the vaults...
.
The next generation of the Young family - brothers Gordon, Stanley, Douglas, and Malcolm - took over in the late 1930s and set up a new subsidiary for its wholesaling business. Another subsidiary added dockside purchasing and processing operations in Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
, which later emerged as the United Kingdom's (and for a time, the world's) busiest fishing port. By the 1950s, the company had built five production facilities for its potted shrimp production.
Takeovers by the Ross Group and Imperial Tobacco
1959 marked the end of Young's independence, after the company was purchased by the larger Ross GroupRoss Group
The Ross Group was a British food company founded in Grimsby, England in 1920.The Ross brand remains common in the retail frozen fish market...
. Young's, however, maintained its own operations, and especially its nationally known brand name, and members of the Young family remained in charge of the company's direction.
Ross's and Young's frozen foods operations grew strongly through the 1960s. A new network of distribution depots was set up, and a number of wholesalers throughout the country were acquired. By the middle of the decade the group's share of the UK's frozen food sector topped 5 percent in the retail channel, and as much as 13 percent in the catering market.
The Ross Group's trawling operations, however, were losing money throughout the decade and, in 1969, the group agreed to be acquired by Imperial Tobacco - as part of which process Ross's trawling business was spun off into British United Trawlers. Ross was renamed Imperial Foods (a division of the newly renamed Imperial Group) but both the Ross and Young's names survived as independently operating divisions of the new company.
As part of Imperial, Young's invested to expand capacity and developed a new centralized distribution system. By the middle of the 1970s, Young's sales had more than doubled, topping £23 million in 1974, and the company was operating 18 factories.
The Hanson and United Biscuits Eras
By the mid-1980s, however, Imperial was caught in an era of hostile takeovers, becoming the target of a number of companies including United BiscuitsUnited Biscuits
__FORCETOC__United Biscuits is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of the BN biscuits, McVitie's biscuits, KP Nuts, Hula Hoops, The Real McCoy's crisps, Phileas Fogg snacks, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets...
Plc (UB). UB lost out to fast-growing conglomerate Hanson
Hanson plc
Hanson plc is a British based international building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for many years, the company was acquired by a division of German rival Heidelberg Cement in August 2007.-History:Hanson...
in its attempt to acquire Imperial, but Hanson was interested only in Imperial's tobacco holdings and sold Ross Young's to UB in 1988. Under UB's ownership, Young's was redeveloped as a standalone division. However, by the late 1990s, UB was restructuring its business to focus on core brands. In 1999 it decided to sell Young's to a management buyout backed by Legal & General
Legal & General
Legal & General Group Plc , commonly known as Legal & General, is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its products include life insurance, general insurance, pensions and investments. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Egypt, France, Germany,...
Ventures (LGV).
Bluecrest
Bluecrest, founded in 1975 by Frank Flear, was a British manufacturer and processor of fish products based in Grimsby, England, UK. It was acquired by Fitch Lovell in 1985 and in 1990 it was sold to Booker Plc, which also had acquired the Ross fish division from Hanson. The two companies were merged to form Booker's Fish Division. In 1999 Booker sold Bluecrest to a management buyout of rival Young's Seafood, backed by Legal & General Ventures (LGV).Once combined with LGV's other UK seafood group the newly created Young's Bluecrest became the UK's leading specialist fish business.
Buyouts & Acquisitions
In 2000, Young's Bluecrest relaunched the Young's branded products and invested in increased production capacity. By then turning over more than £320 million, the company also began an expansion strategy, designed to consolidate the British fish sector.LGV, however, declined to back this expansion, and instead, in 2002, sold Young's Bluecrest to a new management buyout, this time backed by CapVest. The newly-capitalised company made its first acquisition (of the chilled seafood division of Albert Fisher, based in Newcastle), in June 2003. Purchases of the Pinegain Group and its Marr Foods division followed in October 2003; and Young's bought a 34 percent stake in Macrae Food Group, the largest dedicated producer of ready-to-eat seafood in Scotland in September 2004. Expansion and refurbishment of its Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
, Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
operations followed during 2005 and 2006.
The Company Today
The acquisition of the UK-based FindusFindus
Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.- Origins :...
operations from EQT Partners in January 2006 boosted Young's total sales to an estimated £1 billion ($1.7 billion), confirming the company's position as the leader in the UK frozen fish sector, having surpassed rivals Bird's Eye, owned by Permira
Permira
Permira is a United Kingdom-based private equity firm with global reach. The firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €20 billion....
.
Sponsorship
Young's is the official club sponsor of Grimsby Town Football Club, with the company logo present on all Grimsby football strips now since the final home match of the 2003-2004 football season. For the 2004-2005 season, the clubs yellow away strip had the product logo for Youngs Mariners Pie, to tie in with Grimsby Town's club nickname "The Mariners".Principal Competitors
Alpesca S.A.; OrklaOrkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
ASA; Aker
Aker
Aker is a surname.Aker can also refer to:In places:* Aker, Norway, a former municipality in NorwayIn other uses:* Aker , mentioned only in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra* Aker , a god in ancient Egyptian mythology...
ASA; Maruha Corporation; Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
Deutschland GmbH; Icelandic Group Seachill; hf; Perkins Foods Holdings Ltd.; Green Isle Food Group Ltd.
Further reading
- "The Businessman with Young's at Heart," Yorkshire PostYorkshire PostThe Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
, January 11, 2005. - "Capvest Acquires Young's," Acquisitions Monthly, April 2002, p. 73.
- "Capvest Considers Unified Young's, Birds Eye, Findus," GrocerGrocerA grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
, May 13, 2006, p. 6. - Davies, Kit, "Young's Warns of Rising Fish Prices," GrocerGrocerA grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
, March 4, 2006, p. 67. - "Experiment with Fish, Says Young's," GrocerGrocerA grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
, March 11, 2006, p. 57. - McDonagh, Vince, "Merged Company Ploughs Money into Improvements," Frozen & Chilled Foods, April 2000, p. 2.
- "Young's Brand Breaks Through £200 Million Barrier," Frozen & Chilled Foods, September–October 2005, p. 9.
- "Young's Moves Fish Operation from Hull to Scotland," Frozen & Chilled Foods, November–December 2005, p. 13.
- Young's Serves Up 15m Humber Expansion Plan," Fish & Chips and Fast Food, May 2004, p. 4.
- McLelland, Fiona, "Young's Could Be Up for Sale," GrocerGrocerA grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
, January 25, 2005, p. 5. - Merrell, Caroline, "Suitors Line Up for £1bn Unilever Business," The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, June 12, 2006, p. 32. - "Young's Bluecrest Expanding Macrae Plant in Edinburgh," QFFI's GLOBAL SEAFOOD MAGAZINE, January 2006, p. 45.
- "Young's Bluecrest Merger Creates Strongest Seafood Company in the UK," Frozen & Chilled Foods, August 1999, p. 2.
- International Directory of Company Histories (Gale Group, Inc.)