Premier Foods FD stands down

Premier Foods, Britain’s biggest food manufacturer, said yesterday its finance director Paul Thomas would leave the company later this year to seek new challenges and that it had started the search for his successor.

The group, whose brands include Mr Kipling cakes, Bisto gravy, Hovis bread and Branston pickle, said Thomas would step down shortly after presenting its interim results on 5 August.

In March Thomas helped the group refinance its bank facilities and raise £379m in an equity issue, cutting the firm’s net debt to about £1.4bn.