Dairy Crest was established in 1981, as the milk processing arm of the Milk Marketing Board. In 1983, the company launched Clover, its dairy spread. In 1991, the company established a joint venture with Frenchdairy company, Yoplait, called Yoplait Dairy Crest which is 51% owned by Yoplait and 49% by Dairy Crest and which distributes Yoplait brand products in the United Kingdom. In 1995, it bought the Cathedral City brand of cheese from Mendip Foods Ltd. The business was privatised in August 1996, and Dairy Crest was listed on the LondonStock Exchange. In July 2000, it acquired the dairy and cheese products division of Unigate in London, and in November 2002, it acquired the St Ivel spreads company which had been based in Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. In September 2004, it acquired the Country Life butter brand from the English Butter Marketing Company. In July 2006, it acquired Express Dairies from Arla Foods for £33m. In October 2006, it sold the majority of its own label cheese business to First Milk, its Scottish equivalent, along with the creameries and factory that produce most of the products concerned. In January 2007, Dairy Crest bought St Hubert for £248 million securing the Cholegram, Le Fleurier and Omega 3 brands, which are among the top selling spreads in France, and the Vallé brand which is the market leader in Italy.
Sale of milk business
In July 2013, Dairy Crest sold its doorstep milk delivery operations in the Northwest of England to Creamline Dairies, who now operate the milk rounds from the depots in Warrington, Flixton, Stockport and Macclesfield, and Mortons, operate all those in Wirral, Chester and Liverpool. On 6 November 2014, Dairy Crest announced a big slump in profits, down 95% to £900,000 in the six months to September. The company agreed the sale of its entire legacy milk business, which processes and distributes milk, as well as the milkshake brand of Frijj, to Germany's Müller for £80 million, to be combined with Müller's existing subsidiary Müller Wiseman Dairies. The sale was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority on 19 October 2015, and the sale was completed on 26 December 2015.
Acquisition by Saputo
On 22 February 2019, it was announced that Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc would be buying Dairy Crest. The company was valued at £975m, making each share worth 620p. The transaction was completed on 15 April 2019. At the time of the sale, Dairy Crest was the fourth largest dairy company in the United Kingdom, based on turnover. Saputo renamed the business under its own brand in July 2019, though Dairy Crest Limited remained the principle legal entity.
Operations
The company supplies cheese, spreads and drinks. Cheese brands include Cathedral City, Davidstow Cheddar and Wexford. Spread brands include Clover, Country Life, St Hubert, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite and Willow. Drink brands include Country Life Milk. Spread production is consolidated at Kirkby. Davidstow Creamery in Cornwall has been run by the company since 1981. As of , it produces Cathedral City and Davidstow Cheddar. Crudgington Creamery was closed in 2014, when production of spreads was concentrated at Kirkby, while its research and development facility was transferred to an innovation centre, built by the company at Harper Adams University.
