Arla Foods Limited Group Structure Chart & Subsidiaries

Corporate legal teams and institutional lenders conducting counterparty due diligence frequently face a structural blind spot on the UK corporate register. Under the Companies Act 2006 Part 21A, the public register maintained by Companies House is structured strictly from the bottom up. When querying a commercial entity, the Persons with Significant Control (PSC) register confirms who exercises ultimate or direct control over that specific entity. It does not provide an outward-looking index of the companies that the entity itself controls.

For a major operating business such as ARLA FOODS LIMITED (company number 02143253), viewing only the primary record obscures significant parts of the corporate group. Mapping the group downstream requires indexing the entire UK corporate registry in reverse, systematically extracting every corporate PSC notification where the company is recorded as a controlling entity. This corporate structure analysis establishes both the upstream parent hierarchy and the downstream subsidiary network of Arla Foods Limited.

Executive Summary

Arla Foods Limited (02143253) is an active UK private limited company incorporated on 30 June 1987, operating under SIC codes 10511 (liquid milk and cream production) and 46330 (wholesale of dairy products). Upstream ownership is held directly by Arla Foods Uk Plc (03487778), which in turn is controlled by Arla Foods Uk Holding Limited, establishing a multi-tiered UK holding company structure. Downstream reverse PSC indexing reveals nine direct subsidiary relationships, with three of those entities controlling second-tier subsidiaries across dairy processing, joint ventures, and pension asset administration.

Upstream Structure: What Companies House Shows

A direct lookup of Arla Foods Limited on the Companies House register exposes only its immediate statutory data and the corporate entities exercising significant control over it. The root filing does not detail group assets or subsidiary investments.

According to the public PSC register filed under statutory provisions, control of Arla Foods Limited rests with a single corporate body:

Corporate PSC: Arla Foods Uk Plc (company number 03487778)
Notified on: 6 April 2016
Cessation date: None recorded (active)
Recorded control bands: Ownership of shares (75% to 100%), voting rights (75% to 100%), and the right to appoint and remove directors

This single corporate PSC demonstrates absolute statutory control at the immediate parent level. However, a comprehensive compliance review cannot terminate at the first corporate owner. Regulatory guidelines under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 require professionals to trace ownership through intermediate layers to identify any natural persons sitting as ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs).

The Upstream Holding Chain

Tracing the corporate ownership of Arla Foods Uk Plc reveals a second corporate layer:

1. Operating Entity: Arla Foods Limited (02143253)

2. Immediate Parent (Corporate PSC): Arla Foods Uk Plc (03487778) holds 75% to 100% of shares, voting rights, and board appointment power.

3. Holding Company (Second-Tier PSC): Arla Foods Uk Holding Limited is registered as holding 75% to 100% of shares, voting rights, and board appointment control in Arla Foods Uk Plc.

Under statutory guidance on People with Significant Control, a corporate entity qualifies as a registrable corporate PSC if it maintains its own register of members in the UK or is listed on an eligible market. Where ownership resides within an international cooperative or overseas holding structure, UK filings trace up through the intermediate domestic holding companies until reaching the point of statutory registration.

Downstream Group: What Reverse PSC Search Reveals

Companies House does not provide a search function to list the subsidiaries owned by Arla Foods Limited. While filed annual group financial statements occasionally include an investment note detailing subsidiary undertakings, those disclosures are historical, subject to filing exemptions for certain entities, and often omit non-trading or intermediate project vehicles.

Corp Intel resolves this structural gap by reversing the UK PSC register. By querying every UK entity that records Arla Foods Limited (02143253) as a registrable person or corporate entity with significant control, the downstream group can be mapped tier by tier. This search establishes nine direct downstream subsidiaries and affiliates.

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Second-Tier Downstream Holdings

The mapping highlights three distinct entities holding their own secondary subsidiaries:

*Company 04341232 (name not on current register):* Arla Foods Limited controls a 75% to 100% shareholding in this corporate entity, which itself controls three downstream subsidiary entities. Investigating this branch is critical during asset verification exercises to confirm whether operating property or processing facilities are held within these secondary vehicles.
THE CHEESE COMPANY LIMITED (02670609): Incorporated on 12 December 1991, this active operating subsidiary is controlled (75% to 100%) by Arla Foods Limited and directly controls two secondary subsidiaries.
ARLA FOODS PENSION PLAN TRUSTEES LIMITED (03540680): Arla Foods Limited holds a 25% to 50% shareholding in this entity, which holds one downstream subsidiary. Because pension trustee companies manage occupational pension scheme assets, this entity operates under a distinct governance framework from commercial processing units.

In addition to corporate private companies limited by shares, the group structure encompasses ARLA FOODS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP (SL029734), a Scottish limited partnership registered on 23 December 2016, controlled via governance mechanisms including the right to appoint directors or management.

Board Composition and Governance

A company org chart requires clarity regarding the individuals who hold executive and governance authority. Arla Foods Limited maintains an active management team alongside historical secretarial appointments.

Current Active Officers

Ruby Ali-Brett: Director, British, resident in England, born March 1978. Appointed on 30 April 2024.
Anne-Frances Ball: Director, British, resident in England, born June 1972. Appointed on 1 August 2022.
Philip Mark Boot: Director, Dutch, resident in Denmark, born April 1969. Appointed on 10 January 2025.
Mogens Kaspersen: Director, Danish, resident in Denmark, born October 1965. Appointed on 19 April 2022.
Sebastiaan Augustinus Johannes Maria Padberg: Director, Dutch, resident in the United Kingdom, born April 1971. Appointed on 1 January 2024.
Louis Rutter: Director, British, resident in England, born March 1978. Appointed on 17 July 2023.
Richard Charles Jaques: Secretary. Appointed on 17 June 2019.

Historical Directorships and Secretarial Roles

The statutory record contains numerous past appointments reflecting changes in corporate leadership over time. Notable former officers include:

Peter Gioertz-Carlsen: Director, appointed 4 August 2014, resigned 10 January 2025.
Pauline Louise Hogg: Director, appointed 21 February 2017, resigned 30 April 2024.
Afshin Amirahmadi: Director, appointed 4 January 2011, resigned 31 July 2023.
Simon Kin-Man Ho: Director, appointed 27 March 2019, resigned 17 July 2023.
Kingsley Ajerio: Director, appointed 21 February 2017, resigned 28 June 2019.
Anders Torbjoern Haegg: Director, appointed 13 January 2015, resigned 6 January 2017.
Sarah Jane Baldwin: Director, appointed 1 April 2014, resigned 12 February 2016.
Annette Barber: Director, appointed 26 April 2013, resigned 31 August 2015.
Lars Dalsgaard Hoff: Director, appointed 17 March 2008, resigned 1 May 2014.
Martin James Gilbert: Director, appointed 5 May 2004, resigned 7 April 2008.
David Alwyn Firth: Served as Secretary (appointed 22 April 1997, resigned 30 September 2001; earlier secretarial term ended 19 May 1994) and Director (term ended 19 January 1999).
Other historical secretaries include Lucy Kate Williams (resigned 2019), Tanjot Soar (resigned 2016), John Philip Price (resigned 2007), Andrew Nicholas Ramsden (resigned 2003), and Granville John Turner (resigned 1997).

Practical Due Diligence Scenario: Contractual and Structural Risk

When structuring long-term commercial arrangements, trade finance facilities, or distribution agreements with a large enterprise, determining the exact contracting party is vital.

Consider an equipment lease or raw ingredient supply contract valued at £15 million across three years. A common drafting oversight is naming the broad trading brand rather than the specific legal entity owning the physical infrastructure. If the customer enters into an agreement with Arla Foods Limited (02143253), but the operational plant and machinery are held in WESTBURY DAIRIES LIMITED (04839785) or THE CHEESE COMPANY LIMITED (02670609), the supplier faces structural subordination.

In this scenario, if the contracting entity defaults or incurs liabilities, the supplier has no direct claim against the assets of the operating subsidiary unless a formal parent company guarantee or cross-company indemnity is executed. Furthermore, institutional lenders must perform a company charge check on both the parent entity and individual operating subsidiaries to ensure security interests, such as debentures and fixed or floating charges, do not encumber target plant or stock at the subsidiary tier.

Group Due Diligence Checklist for Corporate Practitioners

To ensure exhaustive corporate due diligence when reviewing complex UK group structures, legal and finance teams should execute this verification workflow:

1. Establish the Root Target Entity: Validate the statutory status, date of incorporation, and active directors of the operational target using public records.

2. Examine Upstream PSC Filings: Identify intermediate corporate holding vehicles (such as Arla Foods Uk Plc and Arla Foods Uk Holding Limited) to map the ownership chain up to the ultimate holding entity or parent cooperative.

3. Run Downstream Reverse PSC Searches: Identify all companies, limited partnerships, and joint ventures where the target company holds 25% or more of shares, voting rights, or board appointment powers.

4. Map Multi-Tier Subsidiaries: Trace second-tier entities beneath operating subsidiaries to uncover hidden asset vehicles, property-holding units, or intellectual property silos.

5. Check Company Charges and Encumbrances: Conduct a registered charge search across all active operating subsidiaries to evaluate cross-collateralisation or prior-ranking debentures.

6. Establish Ongoing Register Monitoring: Apply free company monitoring across key parent and subsidiary numbers to track statutory filings, director appointments, PSC cessation events, or accounts filings in real time.

How to Obtain a Complete Corporate Org Chart

Compiling group structures manually by cross-referencing Companies House records, reviewing annual report accounts notes, and piecing together PSC filings is labour-intensive and susceptible to omissions. Corp Intel generates comprehensive corporate structure charts by querying the complete UK Register of Companies and PSC index, assembling both upstream owners and downstream subsidiaries into a clear visual map.

You can order a dated, fully mapped Corporate Org Chart PDF for £25 at /corporate-org-chart. This document maps all identified direct and indirect subsidiaries, control bands, and officer profiles into a single diligence-ready report.

For Conveyancers, Lawyers and Lenders

For banking, corporate M&A, and commercial property teams, verifying structural corporate ties is a required compliance step during pre-completion and KYC onboarding. Failing to identify intermediate holding entities or downstream asset-holding subsidiaries can compromise cross-guarantee enforcement, expose lenders to structural subordination, and invalidate anti-money laundering beneficial ownership verifications under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Order an authoritative group structure mapping directly via the corporate org chart service before drafting security packages or executing share purchase agreements.

FAQ

Why does Companies House not list the subsidiaries of Arla Foods Limited?

Companies House maintains an individual record for each registered corporate entity. While a company's record contains a PSC register disclosing the entities or individuals that control it, the public register does not index downstream assets or subsidiaries owned by that company. To find subsidiaries, corporate analysts must conduct a reverse PSC search across all UK filings.

What is a reverse PSC search?

A reverse PSC search interrogates the entire database of Persons with Significant Control filings across all registered UK companies, extracting every corporate vehicle that records a specific company as holding significant control, voting power, or share ownership. This reveals the complete downstream group.

Who is the ultimate owner of Arla Foods Limited?

Public register filings record Arla Foods Uk Plc as holding 75% to 100% of the shares and voting rights in Arla Foods Limited. Upstream PSC disclosures for Arla Foods Uk Plc show that it is owned by Arla Foods Uk Holding Limited, establishing an intermediate corporate holding structure above the main operating business.

How many subsidiaries are connected to Arla Foods Limited?

Reverse PSC mapping identifies nine direct downstream subsidiary entities where Arla Foods Limited holds significant control. Three of these entities control their own second-tier subsidiaries, creating a multi-tiered corporate hierarchy.

Why do some subsidiaries show 'name not on current register'?

When a company number is identified via an active or historical corporate PSC filing, but the name is listed as not on the current register, it typically indicates that the entity has been dissolved, struck off, undergone a formal corporate reconstruction, or is registered in another jurisdiction whose current name record has updated separately from the statutory filing index.

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