Greedy Premier Foods Back Down Under Pressure

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30367723

The Government and the Institute of Directors both said that they were deeply concerned. But now they have been found out, Premier Foods is backing down under pressure.

Big Business 0
Ordinary people 1

[Psybbo]

Glad to hear it Mikey, I was shocked when I heard that!

[gness]

I should think so too.....!!!!

[Hopkirk]

" ... the company said it would still seek discounts from suppliers, but would no longer request upfront payments into the business."

They will still screw the suppliers then.

[buildersmate]

Big Business 0
Ordinary People 1

I really have to conclude you don't have a clue about what you are talking about.
Premier Foods has no customers or suppliers who are ordinary people. They are a B2B outfit.

[mikey4444]

Really Builders ? Wouldn't these bribes have to be passed on to us as higher food prices ?

[buildersmate]

Premier Foods owns lots of brands. Few of these it developed itself, it acquired them. The company started life as Hillsdown as recently as the 1970s, I think. What's more important to the ordinary person is surely that it employs about 4000 people directly in the UK, plus those employed in the supply chain.
It's evident they are suffering enormously from pressure from customers - the likes of Tesco et al, who are forcing more and more discounts from them as the price of stocking their brands. They are the bad guys, but you probably agree with that. Lidl and Aldi don't need Premier Foods.
Premier Foods are right to try and rationalise their supply chain and demand economies of scale reductions from suppliers to do that. But demanding money upfront just the take part in a supply competition is immoral, and they have rightly shot down for it.
If Premier Foods goes down 4000 jobs goes up the swannie, and I trust you would agree that would not be good.

[Orderlimit]

Yes, I agree buildersmate.

Mikey, you are going to make yourself ill if you don't start thinking logically or rationally.

[Gromit]

Premier Foods are not greedy, they are fighting for their lives. They owe £1.3billion which is a huge debt, even for a conglomerate. They desperately need to reduce that. In the past they would just increase the price of their products so that they were not making a loss. But the big supermarkets won't let them. The big supermarkets have too much power and they are the real villians of the peice. They are the ones putting the thumb screws on suppliers.

[ludwig]

// The big supermarkets have too much power and they are the real villians of the peice. They are the ones putting the thumb screws on suppliers. //

It makes me laugh when they boast about all the fair trade products they stock, while at the same time refusing to pay british farmers more than what it costs them to produce milk.

[Old_Geezer]

It looks to me to be a simple extension of what is happening out there anyway. Everyone with power and a goal to maximise profit for their company flexes their muscles and squeezes as much out of the rest of the chain as they think it can bear. Knowing that if they go to far with one supplier there are plenty more, desperate ones, out there. It's called Capitalism isn't it ? Each looks out for their own interests and the market ensures only the powerful survive. All else are ... unfortunate/weak/undeserving.