COMPANIES Premier Foods has finalised a package to cut its £1.77bn of debt through a £404m equity issue and bank refinancing. Robert Schofield, chief executive, said the largest food producer in the UKnow had “enough headroom to dispel any talk of covenant breaches”.
The shares have been under a cloud for more than a year as investors feared it could be swamped by its debt, much of it taken on to acquire RHM in early 2007, bringing the Hovis, Mr Kipling and Bisto brands to the group. Mr Schofield defended the purchase, saying the logic of the RHM deal remained good.
