Carr's to return £16m to shareholders after food division disposal

Agriculture, food and engineering firm Carr’s Group has sold its food division, Carr’s Flour Mills, to flour milling business Whitworths for £36m.

Net proceeds will amount to £24.9m and the company said it will return £16m to shareholders in the form of a special dividend of 17.54p per share.

The remaining £8.9m will provide balance sheet strength and the opportunity to expand the group’s continuing businesses by acquisition and organic growth.

Chief executive Tim Davies said: “The sale of Carr's Flour Mills Ltd represents an exciting stage in Carr's strategic development. At a time of increasing competition and volatility in the flour market, consolidation is essential and inevitable.

“We will continue to focus on our strategy of delivering growth in our UK agriculture business, the development of our international feed supplement businesses and building our specialist engineering division in niche markets across the globe.”