Snack Foods Limited is an Australian snack food company and was officially formed on 25 November 1999, and was owned by Arnott's Biscuits Limited, a subsidiary of the American

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

. Snack Foods Limited owns one of Australia's largest salted snack food companies,

Snack Brands Australia Snackbrands (SBA) is one of the largest suppliers of snack foods in Australia and acts as the main competitor to the long established The Smith's Snackfood Company. The company was founded in August 1998 as a subsidiary of parent company Sna ...

. In April 2008, Campbell Arnott's sold Arnott's Snackfoods to The Real McCoy Snackfood Co and the company is now known as

Background

Snack Foods Limited was formerly known as Dollar Sweets Holding Limited until it changed its name on 25 November 1999. Campbell announced its intent to acquire Snack Foods Limited on 4 June 2002, and offered A$2.00 per share, acquiring over 90% of the company. Under Australian corporate law, once a company acquires 90% of a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

, it is entitled to acquire the remaining outstanding shares regardless of whether they are tendered into the offer. The total takeover cost approximately $255 million and each

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

received a

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

of 2.5 cents per share from Snack Foods Limited. Snack Foods Limited had approximately $125 million (USD) in sales in 2001, and has constantly grown 8% annually since. With Arnott's acquisition of Snack Foods Limited it became Australia's second largest producer of Australian salty snack foods after the long established

British Australian Anglo-Celtic Australians is an ancestral grouping of Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles - predominantly in England (including Cornish), Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the Isle of Man and Cha ...

company

The Smith's Snackfood Company The Smith's Snackfood Company is a British-Australian snack food brand owned by the American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation PepsiCo. It is best known for its brand of potato crisps. The company was founded by Frank Smith a ...

Dollar Sweets court case

In 1985 there was a landmark Supreme Court case involving Dollar Sweets. The case represented a rare occasion in which a

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

verdict was used to resolve an industrial dispute despite the existence of specialist industrial courts. In early 1985 award negotiations broke down between the Victorian branch of Dollar Sweets and the Confectionery Workers Union, over the issue of a 36-hour working week and a requirement that workers sign a no-strike agreement. A number of workers were sacked during negotiations, and the Union immediately set up a picket line. The picket line remained for 143 days, with the company refusing to reinstate the workers and seeking common law damages against the union. A number of bomb and arson threats were made against Dollar Sweets and one strike-breaking driver was assaulted and his truck vandalised. Dollar Sweets was represented in the Victorian Supreme Court by Melbourne barrister

Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in Howard government, government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving trea ...

and the case was financed by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce. The company alleged union interference with contractual relations, intimidation, nuisance, and a conspiracy to injure the plaintiff and sought an injunction and punitive damages. The

ACTU The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...

also publicly condemned the strike action, saying the CWU's 36-hour claim was "outside the Accord". In December 1985 Victorian Supreme Court Justice Peter Murphy gave judgement, describing the picketing as "stupid and nihilistic." He ruled that this was not a "lawful form of picketing, but a... nuisance involving obstruction, harassment, and besetting". It was beside the point that there were specialist courts for industrial disputes. "This court is not without power ... and should intervene". He issued an interlocutory injunction against the picket, and ordered the union to pay $175,000 in damages.

References

{{Reflist Food and drink companies of Australia Campbell's brands Snack food manufacturers of Australia