Nom Dairy has rubbished the latest round of speculation that its British business is up for sale - and reaffirmed its commitment to the UK by unveiling a new yoghurt brand and investing £2.5m in its Telford site.

Recent reports in Austria suggested the yoghurt maker was looking to exit the UK, with the CEO of its Austrian parent - Raiffeisen Holding’s Klaus Buchleitner - quoted as saying Nom had held talks about a UK sale.

But Buchleitner told The Grocer he had been misquoted. “I did not talk about selling the UK business. I was referring to Nom UK’s former search for a partner,” he said. “Actually, I expect Nom UK to grow the business further in 2013.”

His clarification comes as the company quietly rolls out a new tertiary yoghurt brand - Shropshire Dairy - in the UK. The four-strong range started going into Ocado, Nisa and independents two weeks ago, with further listings expected in the new year.

Nom UK commercial director Domenico Speciale said Shropshire Dairy was targeted at shoppers who wanted UK-produced yoghurts at low prices. “The idea is to hit the 50p and £1 price points,” he said.

Nom also used to sell products under the Nom brand in the UK, but Speciale said the company had decided to pull its brand and instead focus on own label and tertiary brands. The decision was made earlier this year, although some Nom-branded products remained on sale through “clearance channels”, he added.

“We didn’t feel the brand was strong enough to have a long-term future in the UK,” Speciale said. “There is huge growth in own-label yoghurt at the moment, and we’ve decided to focus on that.”

Speciale added Nom had recently invested £2.5m in its Telford site and had ramped up its NPD team from one to six people.

Nom produces own-label yoghurts for all of the big four. According to its latest financial results, it made a loss of £11.7m in 2011. Speciale said the company continued to be loss-making but was “making progress”.

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