Premier Foods suffers after Hovis woe

The maker of Hovis has slumped to a loss after a price war sliced its bread division's profits to just £3.4 million last year.

Premier Foods, which also owns Mr Kipling, Bisto and Oxo, was pushed to an overall loss of £259.1 million in 2011 because of the need to write down the value of the Hovis business on its balance sheet.