Five Star Fish site for sale at £3.75m

THE 2 Sisters Food Group has put its Five Star Fish Factory in Grimsby on the market – with an asking prices of £3.75 million.
The 9,200 square metre site was a major producer of coated fish for Marks & Spencer until April this year, when the parent company decided it should close with the loss of 400 jobs.
The 2 Sisters group, which is owned by the poultry tycoon Ranjit Boparan, said at the time that the operation was no longer sustainable.
The latest figures from Companies House show that Five Star made a loss of £17.2 million for the year to July 29, 2017, compared with a loss of £6.5 million for the previous year.
This was in spite of a near £6.5 million, or 10.7 per cent, rise in turnover to £57.521 million after it won the Marks & Spencer coated fish contract from Grimsby rivals Seachill two years ago.
That work has now gone to Young’s Seafood in Grimsby, which is taking on some of the Five Star staff who have lost their jobs.
It may not be long before this bespoke site is sold. It has been described by the selling agents, PPH Commercial, as a modern food production centre with cold, chilled and ambient storage, making it easy for any seafood producers looking to relocate to Grimsby to move in without too much alteration.
The factory was built by Five Star founder John Fenty, who sold the business to the Real Good Food Company in 2004.
Fenty retired from the fish business and is now the lead director at Grimsby Town Football Club. Five Star was later acquired by British Seafood before that operator went under and was bought by 2 Sisters in 2014.