Sale of Dairies operations referred back to UK CMA

23 March 2015

Dairy Crest Group plc ("Dairy Crest")

European Commission refers review of sale of Dairy Crest's Dairies operations back to UK Competition and Markets Authority

On 6 November 2014 Dairy Crest announced that it had agreed to sell the assets of its Dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group ("Müller"). The transaction is conditional on the approval of the relevant competition authorities and following constructive talks with the European Commission, it has now been referred back to the UK for review by the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA").

The transaction remains on track and, as previously announced, has received the approval of Dairy Crest shareholders.

Mark Allen, Chief Executive of Dairy Crest, commented:

"This transaction will be a positive development for both Dairy Crest and the UK dairy industry as a whole, delivering economies of scale that will help to create a more sustainable UK dairy sector that is better placed to compete on the global stage. It has always been our preference for the transaction to be reviewed in the UK, so we welcome this referral back to the CMA as a positive step. We will work with Müller and the CMA to progress the merger review as quickly as possible."

Dairy Crest will issue its Preliminary Results for the year ending 31 March 2015 on 21 May 2015.