New Premier Foods chief executive pledges end to sell-offs Gavin Darby, who replaced Michael Clarke as head of Premier earlier this month, said that while disposals had been an "A-plus" priority for his predecessor, they are "not on my A or B list." Premier, the owner Mr Kipling cakes and Loyd Grossman sauces, has been struggling under a £1.4bn debt mountain but Mr Clarke raised more than £400m over the past year via disposals. Nonetheless, the company is still labouring with net debts of £950m and a pension deficit of £350m, and Mr Clarke had raised questions about the future of bread brand Hovis by cutting more than 900 jobs and closing bakeries. However, Mr Darby said selling Hovis is "not on my radar" and that he is "encouraged by the ambition and scale of the restructuring" at the business Instead of disposals, Mr Darby pledged to focus on growing sales of Premier's remaining brands by targeting the expanding convenience store segment. He was speaking as Premier reported a pre-tax profit of £4.4m for 2012, compared to a £259m loss in 2011. Revenues fell from £2bn to £1.76bn.