type public limited company traded as lse abf industry food processing retail founded 1935 ; 81 years ago 1935 headquarters weston centre 10 grosvenor street london w1k 4qy united kingdom key people charles sinclair chairman george g. weston ceo products food ingredients services retailing revenue 12 800 million 2015 1 operating income 947 million 2015 1 profit 524 million 2015 1 total assets 15.07 billion 2016 2 number of employees 124 000 2015 1 subsidiaries british sugar primark website www.abf.co.uk associated british foods plc is a british multinational food processing and retailing company whose headquarters are in london united kingdom . its ingredients division is the world s second largest producer of both sugar and baker s yeast and a major producer of other ingredients including emulsifiers enzymes and lactose . 3 its grocery division is a major manufacturer of both branded and private label grocery products and includes the brands mazola ovaltine ryvita jordans and twinings . 3 its retail division primark has around 325 stores with over 6 500 000 sq ft 600 000 m2 of selling space across austria 1 belgium germany ireland the netherlands portugal spain the uk and the united states . 3 associated british foods is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 brands 2.2 subsidiaries 3 board of directors 4 controlling shareholder 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was founded by canadian w. garfield weston in 1935 initially as food investments limited with the name changing to allied bakeries limited a month later . 4 in 1960 the name was changed again to associated british foods . in 1963 the company acquired fine fare a leading british supermarket chain . 5 following the death of the founder in 1978 control of the company was passed on to his son garry while the north american operations fell to his son galen . the company sold fine fare in 1986 and in 1991 went on to acquire british sugar . 6 in 1997 abf sold its retail operations in northern ireland and the republic to tesco . 7 these businesses were quinnsworth and crazy prices in the republic of ireland and stewarts supermarkets ltd and crazy prices in northern ireland . this sale also included the stewarts winebarrel off licence chain lifestyle sports & leisure ltd a retail sports and leisure business kingsway fresh foods a meat processing facility and daily wrap produce a fruit and vegetable packaging plant . in 2000 the company sold its interests in burton s biscuits . 8 in 2002 it acquired the mazola corn oil argo & kingsfords corn starch karo and golden griddle syrups and henri s dressing brands along with several canadian brands from unilever ; 9 10 in 2004 it acquired the tone s spice business and fleischman yeast business from burns philp ; 11 and in 2007 it purchased patak s indian food business . 12 on 26 march 2011 associated british foods and its parent company wittington investments were targeted over tax avoidance by uk uncut during anti cuts protests . 13 the tax avoidance scheme involved moving capital between abf primark and the affiliated luxembourg entity abf european holdings & co snc by means of interest free loans avoiding tax of about 9.7 million per year . 14 15 the protest took the form of a mass sit in in fortnum & mason . 16 in february 2013 the firm was forced to deny illegal and immoral tax evasion after it was accused by an international charity of moving its profits outside of zambia to reduce its tax bill . actionaid said zambia sugar a unit of ab foods had made profits of 123 million since 2007 but had paid virtually no corporate tax in zambia . 17 in october 2013 the company denied being involved in unscrupulous uses of land in an article containing reports of forced evictions by other companies . 18 operations edit brands edit old argo laundry starch box photographed at edmonds historical museum . allinson argo cornstarch aladino peanut butter capullo dorset cereals dromedary cake mixes fleischmann s jordans cereals karo corn syrup kingsmill bread mazola corn oil ovaltine except in the united states where nestl owns the brand patak s ryvita silver spoon spice islands sunblest tone s spices twinings subsidiaries edit ab agri ltd ab enzymes ab mauri bakery ingredients abitec corporation abitec ltd ach food companies ac humko from 1995 to 2000 an american subsidiary of associated british foods previously part of kraft foods from 1952 to 1995 . ach food m xico 19 allied mills british sugar frontier 50 % joint venture with cargill george weston foods g costa sauces and ethnic non uk brands illovo sugar primark known as penneys in the republic of ireland westmill foods pgp international inc. spi pharma inc. board of directors edit charles sinclair chairman . 20 george g. weston chief executive officer . 20 john bason finance director . 20 peter smith independent non executive director . 20 michael jay baron jay of ewelme independent non executive director . 20 timothy clarke independent non executive director . 20 javier ferr n independent non executive director . 20 emma adamo independent non executive director . 20 controlling shareholder edit some 54.5 % of abf is owned by wittington investments . 21 79.2 % of the share capital of wittington investments is owned by the garfield weston foundation which is one of the uk s largest grant making charitable trusts and the remainder is owned by members of the weston family . wittington investments also owns fortnum & mason and heal & son . george g. weston became chief executive of abf on 1 april 2005 and galen weston the chief executive of george weston ltd. is a non executive director . garth weston is regional president of ab mauri . see also edit companies portal references edit a b c d e annual report and accounts 2015 pdf . retrieved 19 march 2016 . http www.forbes.com companies associated british foods a b c introduction . associated british foods plc. archived from the original on 22 september 2010 . retrieved 26 september 2010 . bakers federation . bakers federation . archived from the original on 7 april 2010 . retrieved 15 may 2010 . ritchie berry 24 january 2001 . obituary sir alistair grant . the independent . uk . retrieved 15 may 2010 . obituary garry weston . the independent . uk . 16 february 2002 . retrieved 15 may 2010 . pain derek 14 april 1997 . abf s 1.5 bn cash mountain provides investors with food for thought . the independent . uk . retrieved 28 july 2012 . wootliff benjamin 31 october 2000 . wagon wheels roll west as abf sells burton s . the daily telegraph . uk . retrieved 15 may 2010 . ach foods company overview . achfood.com . retrieved 7 december 2013 . ach food companies inc. buys unilever s mazola corn oil and associated brands . prnewswire.com . 23 april 2002 . retrieved 7 december 2013 . burns philp & co ltd . secinfo.com . retrieved 15 may 2010 . ab foods buys curry firm patak s bbc news online tuesday 29 may 2007 uk uncut occupy tax dodgers fortnum and mason . 26 mar 2011 . abf european holdings & co snc accounts 2008 pdf . retrieved 2013 02 16 . tax research uk article . taxresearch.org.uk . 2011 03 28 . retrieved 2013 02 16 . video occupation of fortnum & mason by ukuncut was peaceful by sunny hundal . 27 march 2011 . ab foods denies avoiding tax in zambia holiday international reuters 10 february 2013 merrill jamie 2 october 2013 written at london oxfam accuses coke and pepsi of taking land from the poor united kingdom the independent ach food companies mexico . achfood.com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . a b c d e f g h associated british foods plc about us board and committees board of directors . abf.co.uk . retrieved 15 march 2015 . associated british foods . annual report 2011 pdf . retrieved 28 july 2012 . external links edit official website v t e associated british foods current operations ab agri ltd abitec corporation abitec ltd argo cornstarch allied mills allinson british sugar frontier 50 % g costa george weston foods illovo sugar kingsmill mozolo oil ovaltine except usa patak s primark ryvita silver spoon sunblest twinings former operations burton s biscuits dairy wrap produce fine fare kingsway fresh foods lifestyle sports power supermarkets limited stewarts supermarkets limited people w. garfield weston garry weston george g. weston guy weston other garfield weston foundation george weston limited wittington investments category v t e ftse 100 companies of the united kingdom ftse 250 3i admiral group anglo american antofagasta ashtead group associated british foods astrazeneca aviva bae systems bhp billiton bp babcock international barclays barratt developments british american tobacco british land bt group bunzl burberry capita carnival centrica coca cola hbc compass group crh croda international dcc diageo direct line group dixons carphone easyjet experian fresnillo gkn glaxosmithkline glencore hammerson hargreaves lansdown hikma pharmaceuticals hsbc imperial brands informa intercontinental hotels group international airlines group intertek intu properties itv johnson matthey kingfisher land securities group legal & general lloyds banking group london stock exchange group marks & spencer mediclinic international merlin entertainments micro focus international mondi morrisons national grid next old mutual paddy power betfair pearson persimmon polymetal international provident prudential randgold resources royal bank of scotland reckitt benckiser relx group rio tinto group rolls royce royal dutch shell royal mail rsa insurance group sage group j sainsbury schroders severn trent shire sky smith & nephew smiths group sse standard chartered standard life st. james s place taylor wimpey tesco travis perkins tui unilever united utilities vodafone whitbread wolseley worldpay wpp retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title associated british foods & oldid 737905260 categories food manufacturers based in londoncompanies listed on the london stock exchangecompanies established in 1935weston familymultinational food companiesassociated british foods1935 establishments in the united kingdommultinational companies headquartered in the united kingdomhidden categories use dmy dates from april 2011 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 languages deutschespa ol fran aisnederlandspolskiportugu srom n suomi edit links this page was last modified on 5 september 2016 at 18 51 . text is available under the creative commons 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