Northern Foods is to plough £26.5m into its Fox’s Biscuits brand, with new automated technology replacing hundreds of jobs. The firm plans to introduce automated equipment at its Batley, Kirkham and Uttoxeter sites, resulting in a reduction of approximately 220 employees "mainly through voluntary redundancy".
In its half-year results, the company said key investments over the next 18 months would include a new Creams line at Kirkham, new automation for its Melts line at Batley and a new wrapping system at Uttoxeter.
For the 26 weeks ended 26 September 2009, its bakery division revenue rose by 3.9%, with profits up 26.2% to £8.2m.
A £2m marketing drive for the Matthew Walker pudding brand will be launched ahead of the Christmas period.

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