Dairy Crest

Dairy Crest was established in 1981 as the milk processing arm of the Milk Marketing Board. In 1983, the company launched Clover, a dairy spread. The company established a joint venture with French dairy company Yoplait in 1981, called Yoplait Dairy Crest. YDC is 51% owned by Yoplait and 49% by Dairy Crest, and distributes Yoplait brand products in the UK.

In 1995, Dairy Crest bought the Cathedral City brand of cheese from Mendip Foods Ltd. The business was privatised the following year and Dairy Crest was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In 2000, Dairy Crest acquired the dairy and cheese products division of Unigate in London, and in 2002 bought the St Ivel spreads company, which had been based in Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. It acquired the Country Life butter brand from the English Butter Marketing Company in 2004, and Express Dairies from Arla Foods in 2006 for £33 million.

The company sold the majority of its own-label cheese business to its Scottish equivalent First Milk in 2006, along with the creameries and factory that produced most of the products concerned. In 2007, Dairy Crest bought St Hubert for £248 million, securing the Cholegram, Le Fleurier, Omega 3 and Vallé brands, which were subsequently sold in 2012 to Montagu Private Equity for €430 million (£347 million).

Plans for the Crudgington Creamery to close were announced in 2012. The creamery closed in May 2014, when production of spreads was concentrated at Kirkby on Merseyside while the research and development facility was transferred to an innovation centre built by the company at Harper Adams University, Shropshire

Sale of milk business

Dairy Crest sold its doorstep milk delivery operations in the North West of England in July 2013 to Creamline Dairies who now operate the milk rounds from the depots in Warrington, Flixton, Stockport and Macclesfield, while Mortons operate rounds in Wirral, Chester and Liverpool. Dairy Crest announced a drop in profits on 6 November 2014, 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 Frijj milkshake brand, to Germany's Müller for £80 million, enabling it 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 completed the following December.

Acquisition by Saputo

It was announced in 2019 that Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc would be buying Dairy Crest. The company was valued at £975 million, 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 UK based on turnover. Saputo renamed the business under its own brand in July 2019, though Dairy Crest Limited remained the principal legal entity.