founded 1948 founder mcvitie & price macfarlane lang headquarters hayes london united kingdom key people jeff van der eems 1 ceo products sweet and salty snacks revenue 1 096.1 million 2013 operating income 141.7 million 2007 net income 24.0 million 2007 parent pladis global y ld z holding website www.unitedbiscuits.com united biscuits ub is a british multinational food manufacturer makers of mcvitie s biscuits jacob s cream crackers and twiglets . the company was listed on the london stock exchange and was once a constituent of the ftse 100 index but in november 2014 it was acquired by y ld z holding . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 modernisation 4 brands 5 united biscuits network 6 in popular culture 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit united biscuits ub was formed in 1948 by a merger of two scottish family businesses mcvitie & price and macfarlane lang . 2 in 1962 william crawford & sons best known for its shortbread was acquired for 6 million . 3 in 1965 william macdonald & sons was acquired for 2.8 million and brought the penguin brand to the group . 4 in 1972 it acquired carr s of carlisle makers of the eponymous table water biscuits from james goldsmith s cavenham foods for 2.75 million . 5 united biscuits acquired the us based keebler company for 53 million in 1974 . it also owned the wimpy bar fast food restaurant chain between 1977 and 1989 . 6 it acquired the frozen food company ross young s from hanson in 1988 for 335 million . 7 keebler was sold for 500 million in 1995 . 8 the company was 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 . 9 the company sold young s bluecrest in 2001 in order to concentrate on the sweet biscuit sector . 10 in september 2004 the company bought the uk portion of groupe danone s jacob s biscuit group for 240 million including cream crackers and twiglets . 11 in july 2006 it sold its southern european biscuits business to kraft foods which in turn left the owner syndicate . 12 in october 2006 midocean partners sold the company to a consortium made up of the blackstone group and pai partners . 13 the deal was completed in december 2006 . 14 15 in december 2012 ub agreed the sale of its kp snacks business to intersnack for 500 million . 16 on 3 november 2014 private equity funds managed by blackstone and pai partners announced the sale of united biscuits to y ld z holding . 17 operations edit the core of the business is in the united kingdom where it produces biscuits under a number of brand names including mcvitie s biscuits and jacob s cream crackers . the company manufactures in a number of countries across europe such as the netherlands france and belgium . it also has a manufacturing site in india . the company s headquarters is in hayes in suburban west london . the company s main uk distribution centre is at ashby de la zouch . modernisation edit in december 2013 mcvities announced their intention to modernize the harlesden site to increase production capacity improve flexibility and thereby secure the long term survival of the london factory . this change meant a move from a 5 day 8 hour operation to a 7 day 12 hour operation and was introduced following union agreement . the first part of this change happened in june 2014 and is being introduced in 5 phases over 2014 and 2015 . the factory will be fully 24 7 in april 2015 and will increase production capacity by 40 % . when the changes are fully implemented the number of employees on the site will increase to around 580 . in june 2014 mcvities announced their intention to make up to 157 shop floor roles redundant at their manchester manufacturing facility 18 as part of a similar modernisation programme that saw the site move to a similar 7 day operation . brands edit carr s tasties delacre verkade go ahead wing dings flipper dipper jacob s biscuits for cheese mini cheddars cheddars cheeselets choice grain cornish wafer cream crackers essentials crackers mediterraneo thai bites water biscuits twiglets water biscuits crinklys oddities mcvities ginger nuts digestives hob nobs bn rich tea penguin taxi lyle s mini rolls club gold iced gems happy faces jaffa cakes united biscuits network edit 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 . 19 in popular culture edit 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 . see also edit burton s foods jacob fruitfield food group huntley & palmers peek freans tunnock s jaffa cakes references edit jeffrey peter van der eems works at united biscuits uk limited since 02 september 2005 http www.cbetta.com director jeffrey peter van der eems 3 a new biscuit company . times london england 19 march 1948 9 . united biscuits crawfords for more than 6m . times london england 24 may 1962 19 . 2.8 m. biscuit merger . times london england 21 january 1965 22 . anthony rowley . cavenham sell biscuit interests for 4m . times london england 5 july 1972 19 . information on wimpy s franchise caterer search . retrieved on 29 january 2008 . history . united biscuits . retrieved 4 january 2009 . united biscuits sells keebler for 500 million ub to weigh up its options . eurofood . 25 april 2002 . retrieved 12 april 2007 . united biscuits selling young s stake . eurofood . 29 march 2001 . retrieved 12 april 2007 . danone sells its uk biscuits to united . the independent . 24 july 2004 . retrieved 12 april 2007 . dead link city sandwich . london telegraph . 11 july 2006 . retrieved 4 january 2009 . parkinson gary 26 october 2006 . private equity companies snap up united biscuits in a pound 1.6 bn . the independent . retrieved 12 april 2007 . blackstone and pai complete purchase of ub press release . united biscuits . 15 december 2006 . retrieved 12 april 2007 . cinven midocean to sell united biscuits press release . alt assets . 25 october 2006 . retrieved 25 november 2014 . subscription required help . kp snacks snapped up by intersnack in 500m deal . manchester evening news . 5 december 2012 . turkish food giant gobbles up united biscuits . the daily telegraph . 3 november 2014 . retrieved 5 november 2014 . 157 jobs could go at mcvities . manchester evening news . pick of the pops biography . bbc . retrieved 4 january 2009 . external links edit official website v t e y ld z holding divisions pladis global lker godiva chocolatier united biscuits brands mcvitie s bn biscuit jacob s go ahead biscuits carr s delacre biscuits verkade sultana demet s candy company retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title united biscuits & oldid 742390982 categories united biscuitscompanies formerly listed on the london stock exchangesnack food manufacturers of the united kingdomfood manufacturers based in londonfood processing in londonbritish companies established in 1948y ld z holdinghidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from october 2010pages containing links to subscription only contentuse dmy dates from october 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutschespa olfran 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