Princes appoints food arm chiefs

Princes Group, the food and soft drinks manufacturer, has hired two directors to head a newly formed food division.

Trevor Millen joins Princes Foods as managing director from own label household and personal care manufacturer McBride, where he was managing director of the personal care division. Michele Vincent, former marketing director at Wedgwood, becomes marketing director.

They will manage a range of products under the Princes brand name, including tuna fish, orange juice and canned meats, International Collection olive oils, Bianca canned tomatoes and Osprey canned fish.

Princes has relaunched the Lee Kum Kee Chinese cooking sauces range endorsed by TV chef Ken Hom.

The appointments follow the restructuring of Princes Group into three distinct business divisions: food, soft drinks and foodservice.

Princes Group chief executive and managing director John Mutch says the appointments will enable the group to hit its target of &£750m sales by 2000 through organic growth and acquisitions.

Princes Group, owned by the Mitsubishi Corporation, doubled the size of its foodservice business when it bought rival canned goods group Oxbridge Foods in March.

Princes now bases all of its foodservice business in Chertsey, Surrey, where Oxbridge was located, under newly appointed managing director Tim Jolly, who quit as deputy managing director of Spar UK in May last year. The food division will continue to be based in Liverpool.

Princes Group is reported to be looking for further acquisitions in the bottled water and chilled ready meal sectors as part of its long-term growth strategy.