Heinz's petfood business may be sold off to make room for the company's increasing investment in prepared foods. The US company said its petfood business, which includes the 9-Lives brand, had been losing market share and sales were down due to increased promotion to remedy this. Petfood sales were hit hard this quarter, slumping nearly $20m from $345m. Analysts say it is becoming a drag on the company. One said: "They're certainly going to do something with petfood and a sale makes the most sense." Mars, which owns Pedigree and Whiskas, and Nestlé, owner of Friskies, are both thought to be eyeing the business. Nestlé and Mars refused to comment. But speculation of a sell off was prompted by Heinz boss William Johnson who told analysts he was "looking very hard" look at petfood. He refused to comment further. {{NEWS }}

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