Faccenda Group

Industrial chicken farm operated by the Faccenda Group on the Marsh Road east of Burnham-on-Crouch

Faccenda Group is a privately owned UK business established in 1962 by Robin Faccenda,^[1] which supplies fresh chicken products. It is the second-largest chicken processing company in the UK,^[2] capable of processing 2 million chickens per week.^[3]

Ownership and losses

The group is owned by Hillesden Investments Ltd.,^[4] growing the business through acquisitions of Hinton Poultry, Perry Poultry and Webbs Country Foods, with an annual turnover of around £300m with 2,500 employees in 2005,^[5] growing to a turnover of £365 million with a profit of £5 million in 2013.^[6] In 2007-2008 the Faccenda Group had suffered a loss of £5 million.^[7]

Robin Faccenda, Chairman of the Faccenda Group, has invested £300,000 in a new student centre at Harper Adams, which will bear his name when it opens in 2010. A further £200,000 will fund a long-term programme of student financial support.,^[8]

In 2014, Robin Faccenda and his family were listed by Farmers Weekly as the richest within the UK poultry industry.^[9]

Purchase and closure

The Faccenda poultry processing plant in Sutton Benger, closed in 2008

The purchase of the loss making Webbs Country Foods in December 2000, required the closure of the most underinvested site at the Lymington, Hampshire factory with a loss of 500 jobs.^[10][11] However, 850 jobs were saved across the remaining 3 production facilities.

As part of a major business consolidation exercise, Faccenda closed the factory in Sutton Benger, Wiltshire in 2008, with the loss of 450 jobs, moving all production to the Brackley site.^[2][12][13] This exercise also included the investment of £3 million in its factory in Brackley,^[14] and £2 million to its factories in Hortonwood (north Telford) and Dudley and the creation of 100 new jobs - some transferring from the Sutton Benger site.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

In 2012 Faccenda bought Cranberry Foods, a turkey business.^[6]

Court cases

In 2002, the company was fined £75,000 for polluting the River Avon from its Sutton Benger plant.^[20][21] It was also fined a further £14,000 after 17-year-old Martin Major lost his little finger and ring finger after he reached into a machine without first turning it off.

In 2003, police arrested 20 Brazilians working illegally at the plant in 2003.^[22]

The Environment Agency found in 2006 that the smell from the Brackley plant fell outside limits under the Pollution Prevention and Control regulations.^[20][23]

In 2009, the company was fined £5000 under the Environmental Protection Act for incorrectly disposing of waste at Lyneham Farm, near Chippenham.^[20] The court heard that, in April 2008, a routine visit to the poultry unit by Environment Agency inspectors found that hazardous waste was being bought from other sites and incorrectly stored. A further inspection in October showed that the hazardous waste, including fluorescent light tubes, was still being stored, mixed with other waste and then taken to a waste transfer site. The Environment Agency prosecuter told the court: "The defendant company consistently failed to comply with the advice given to it by the Environment Agency and tried to dispose of hazardous waste, despite being warned on previous occasions about the illegal mixing, storing and transportation of hazardous wastes."^[24]

A case brought by Faccenda against a former sales manager, Faccenda Chicken v Fowler [1986], is a key legal case in confidentiality and trade secrets.^[25][26]

References

External links

• Faccenda Group