S&P: United Biscuits on positive watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed its ratings on United Biscuits Finance plc, including its B long-term corporate credit rating, on CreditWatch with positive implications.

The ratings on United Biscuits' direct subsidiary Regentrealm Ltd. were also placed on CreditWatch with positive implications, the agency added.

S&P said that the CreditWatch placement follows United Biscuits' announcement that it has agreed to sell its southern European business division to Kraft Food Inc. for an enterprise value of £575 million, noting that the transaction could result in an improvement in the group's financial profile that would offset the reduced geographic diversity.

Although United Biscuits will no longer benefit from the relatively less mature and higher growth southern European biscuit market, the dilution of the group's business risk profile is modest, the agency added.

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