Dairy Crest to sell dairies assets as first-half profit slumps

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Dairy Crest Group Plc, Britain's largest dairy food company, posted a 95 percent slump in first-half profit and said it had agreed to sell the assets of its dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group for 80 million pounds ($127.9 million).

The sale, which is expected to take several months, will protect long-term employment and help reduce costs and increase efficiency, Dairy Crest (LSE: DCG.L - news) said in a statement on Thursday.

The maker of Cathedral City cheese and Country Life butter, said profit before tax fell to 0.9 million pounds in the six months ended Sept. 30 from 19.7 million pounds a year earlier, hurt by a loss in dairies business, which accounts for 70 percent of its revenue. Revenue rose 1 percent to 682.1 million pounds. ($1 = 0.6253 British pound) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)