Hubbard opts to hold on to cereal firm

Dick Hubbard says the company has considerable potential yet to be realised. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

After three months of discussions with international companies Hubbards Foods has decided not to sell the business.

Chairman Dick Hubbard said the breakfast food manufacturer decided last week that it would benefit from remaining independent. "We believe the company has got some considerable potential yet to be realised."

Hubbards Foods had received a number of offers from multinationals over the years, he said.

A confidentiality agreement bound him from disclosing which companies had made the most recent offer but he confirmed they were involved in the food industry. Hubbard told the Business Herald previous media reports implying the breakfast foods company was as good as sold were inaccurate.

"We are absolutely clearly not selling."

Hubbards said the company would continue running as it was for the medium-term future.

Hubbard has been chairman of the company since he established it in 1988 but took a step back during his Auckland mayoralty from 2004-2007 and employed an executive director.

Since John Banks took the mayoralty, Hubbard has become more involved in the company and continues to write the regular newsletter Clipboard found in cereal boxes.