Snack Foods Limited facts for kids
Snack Foods Limited was an Australian company that made snack foods. It started on November 25, 1999. It was owned by Arnott's Biscuits, which is part of the American company Campbell Soup Company. Snack Foods Limited also owned Snack Brands Australia, which is one of Australia's biggest companies for salty snacks. In April 2008, Campbell Arnott's sold Arnott's Snackfoods. The company is now known as Snack Brands Australia.
How it Started
Snack Foods Limited used to be called Dollar Sweets Holding Limited. It changed its name on November 25, 1999. Campbell, the big American company, decided to buy Snack Foods Limited on June 4, 2002. They offered A$2.00 for each share. Campbell ended up buying more than 90% of the company.
In Australia, if a company buys 90% of a public company (a company whose shares can be bought by anyone), it can buy the rest of the shares too. The total cost for Campbell to take over Snack Foods Limited was about $255 million. Each shareholder (a person who owns shares in a company) received a small payment of 2.5 cents for each share they owned.
In 2001, Snack Foods Limited made about $125 million (USD) in sales. The company had been growing by 8% each year. After Arnott's bought Snack Foods Limited, it became the second largest maker of salty snacks in Australia. The biggest was The Smith's Snackfood Company.
Dollar Sweets Court Case
In 1985, there was an important court case involving Dollar Sweets. This case was unusual because a regular court, called a common law court, settled a disagreement between workers and the company. Usually, special courts handle these kinds of disputes.
In early 1985, Dollar Sweets and the Confectionery Workers Union had a disagreement. They were trying to agree on new rules for working hours and a promise from workers not to strike. Some workers were let go during these talks. Because of this, the Union started a protest outside the company.
This protest lasted for 143 days. The company did not want to hire the workers back. Instead, it went to court to ask for money from the union because of the problems the protest caused.
Dollar Sweets was represented in court by a lawyer named Peter Costello. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce helped pay for the case. The company claimed the union was interfering with their business. They also said the union was causing problems and working together to harm the company. They asked the court to stop the protest and make the union pay for damages. Even the ACTU, a big union group, said the protest was not following their agreements.
In December 1985, Justice Peter Murphy of the Victorian Supreme Court made a decision. He said the protest was causing trouble and blocking the company's work. He ruled that the court could step in and stop the protest. He ordered the union to pay $175,000 in damages to Dollar Sweets.
