Dairy Crest surged 23.6 to 372.6p after Germany's Theo Mueller Group, which makes M�ller yoghurts, said it had acquired a 3pc stake in the London-listed company. The move triggered speculation the secretive German dairy giant may be lining up a bid for Dairy Crest.

Damian McNeela, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, told Bloomberg: "This indicates that Mueller may make a formal offer for Dairy Crest � they might be looking to widen their product base in the UK".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/marketreport/8033253/Vedanta-Resources-hit-by-Indian-copper-mine-closure.html

Well done.

Goldman Sachs Sell 469.40 469.40 - 377.00 Reiterates

Do you not like their butter Skinny you seem to have it in for this lot.

On the contrary - I'm waiting to buy back.

What have you got and hedge on a ton of butter.

See post 51 - 59 above - I was long almost at the bottom, but got limited out because I didn't amend it in time and have been ruing it ever since!

In the words of the bard - bugger!!!!

Easy done. Usualy cynic who takes my mind off what Im doing.

oy! mind your manners ... i think he really means i stop him wanking with the thought of being buggered :-)

Bitten the bullet @466.7

Ex dividend on Wednesday 2nd @15.45p

Global partnership with Fonterra to sell demineralised whey and further global growth opportunity

Dairy Crest, the leading UK-owned dairy foods company, is today announcing that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Fonterra, the world's leading dairy exporter. Fonterra will market and sell two products for the fast growing global infant formula market.

more..

AGM and Interim Management Statement

Dairy Crest, the leading UK-owned dairy foods company, is issuing the following Interim Management Statement for the 3 months ended 30 June 2014 at its Annual General Meeting later today.

Aggregate sales of our four key brands grew by 4% in the period compared to the first quarter of 2013/14. Three of our key brands, Cathedral City, Country Life and FRijj each grew sales by more than 5%. The exception was Clover where sales continued to fall in a difficult spreads market. We expect the performance of this brand to benefit over the remainder of the year from the television advertising that is scheduled for the second quarter. We also remain on target to complete the rationalisation of our spreads and butter manufacturing facilities and close our Crudgington site this year.

One of the elements of our plan to improve the profits in our Dairies operations is to grow FRijj, which is already the market leader in the ready to drink flavoured milk market. FRijj has increased its presence on retailers' shelves in recent months and secured a greater share of display. New coffee flavours are also contributing to its growth.

The second element to our Dairies plan is to reduce our costs. Across the business as a whole we are on target to again reduce our costs by £20 million this year, with Dairies benefitting most. Our focus is on reducing our distribution costs and we have made good progress in the period.

Thirdly, we aim to maximise profits from the sale of surplus properties. As previously reported, in this period we have completed the sale of a redundant depot in Surbiton, Surrey resulting in a profit on disposal of £4.9 million. We now anticipate full year profits from sales of redundant distribution depots will be in the range £10 million to £15 million.

Despite progress with these three elements of our plan, profits in our Dairies product group have remained under pressure as we maintained high milk purchase prices during the quarter despite lower cream revenues. Although we have now reduced the price we pay for milk for Dairies, profits in this product group will be second-half weighted and property profits will make up a larger part of total profits than we originally anticipated.

At the end of the first quarter our financial position remains in line with our expectations and the outlook for the full year remains unchanged.

As announced earlier this month, our £45 million investment to manufacture demineralised whey at Davidstow remains on track and we are working closely with our partner, Fonterra, to maximise the potential returns from both this investment and from the newly announced £20 million investment to manufacture galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS).

Anyone know why this is dropping?

Not sure, but they are back on my list.

Dairy Crest Group plc ("Dairy Crest") appoints new Chairman

The Board of Dairy Crest, the leading UK-owned dairy foods company, announces that Stephen Alexander will become the company's Chairman with immediate effect.

He replaces Anthony Fry, who was taken ill earlier this year. Anthony will leave the Board of Dairy Crest with immediate effect.

Stephen Alexander was appointed as a Non-executive Director in January 2011. He has been Chairman of the Remuneration Committee since May 2012.

Richard Macdonald, who has been Acting Chairman while Anthony has been unable to work, will resume his role as Senior Independent Director.

Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest, said: "It is sad that Anthony will no longer chair the Board. Anthony has had a significant influence on the business since his appointment as a Non-executive Director in 2007, and especially since he became Chairman in 2010. I shall miss working with him."

"Stephen has been a very strong non-Executive and makes an excellent replacement. I am looking forward to working more closely with him."

Stephen Alexander said: "I am delighted to take up the role of Chairman. Dairy Crest is a good business and I look forward to helping to continue to further develop the company."

Dairy Crest expects to issue its half-yearly trading update on 22 September 2014 and its Interim Results for the six months ending 30 September 2014 on 6 November 2014.
-ENDS-

Trading Statement

Dairy Crest is issuing the following pre-close trading update for the six months ending 30 September 2014, ahead of announcing Interim Results on 6 November 2014.

In a challenging trading environment Dairy Crest expects to report overall first half Group profits broadly in line with last year. As previously reported, property profits from the sale of surplus delivery depots will make up a greater proportion of profits than in the same period last year.

more...

Hanworth and Chard facilities

Dairy Crest starts employee consultation at its Hanworth glass bottling dairy and Chard specialist cream potting facility

Dairy Crest is today announcing that it is starting consultation with employees and their representatives regarding the closure of its glass bottling dairy in Hanworth, West London and its specialist cream potting facility in Chard, Somerset.

more...

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 395.50 530.00 480.00 Reiterates

Numis Hold 394.13 409.50 476.00 411.00 Reiterates

StockMarketWire.com
Dairy Crest has agreed to sell the assets of its dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group for £80m payable in cash on completion.

The sale is conditional on the approval of the relevant competition authorities. This process is expected to take several months, during which time Dairy Crest will focus on continuing to provide high levels of service and delivery throughout the supply chain.

It is also conditional on the approval of Dairy Crest's shareholders and employee consultation