JOHANNESBURG, Sept 21 (Reuters) - International food distributor Bid Corporation Ltd (Bidcorp) BIDJ.J said on Friday the prospective buyer for its UK logistics business is no longer interested in buying it, citing internal reasons.
In August the South African company said is was finalising an agreement to sell that business to an unidentified global company, moving a step closer to removing the loss-making, non-core asset. is currently considering alternative proposals which were suspended due to the advanced sale process," it said in a statement.
Bidcorp bought the UK Contract Distribution business in 1999. It had a few large contracts with fast-food chains like Yum Brands Inc's YUM.N KFC and Burger King QSR.TO but has struggled to contribute to the group's overall profit, with too many risks and no opportunity for margin growth.
The exit of KFC in February, along with accompanying redundancies and restructuring as well as downscaling of properties and vehicles, contributed to significant annual losses at the business, Bidcorp said in August.
The firm is implementing numerous initiatives to improve the business and those plans are yielding positive results, it said on Friday.
"The trading performance for the two months to end-August 2018 has delivered a near breakeven position, which is a significant improvement compared to the same period in the previous financial year," it said.