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Nestle is to cut loose some of Britain's best known brands as it

overhauls its strategy to focus on key categories where it can

'establish and maintain leadership'.

The brands up for sale are Crosse & Blackwell, which includes Branston

Pickle and Waistline salad dressing, Gale's honey, Sarson's vinegar,

Rowntree's Jelly and Sun-Pat peanut butter. Together, they have sales of

around £100m a year.

Nestle has announced that it is to focus on the core categories of

beverages, confectionery, chilled dairy, milks and nutrition.

As part of the strategy shift, Nestle is to buy the Ski and Munch Bunch

chilled dairy brands from Northern Foods. This acquisition gives Nestle

a UK business unit with sales of £125m and a 13% share of the

chilled dairy market, propelling it into the number two position behind

Muller.

The only parts of Nestle's ambient foods business - those that sit on a

shelf rather than in the fridge - that will be retained are its Herta

range of meat and frankfurters and the Buitoni pasta range. These will

be folded into a self-contained sub-unit to be known as 'imports'.

While Nestle UK's roster of agencies are on alert following the

decision, the company said it was too early to speculate about

implications of the shake-up for agencies working on the brands to be

sold.

Ogilvy & Mather handles Sun-Pat, Gale's honey and Rowntree's Jelly,

while McCann-Erickson handles Crosse & Blackwell.

However, the agencies may be in line to pick up new work for the Ski and

Munch Bunch brands, currently handled by Partners BDDH.

Ski and Munch Bunch will be housed within Nestle's recently established

European Chilled Dairy business unit which is headed by marketing

director Sabina Eminente, based in Brussels.

A spokeswoman said it was too soon to say how marketing staff on the

food brands would be affected, or whether a top marketer would be

appointed to run the Chilled Dairy unit at a UK level.