CARRS, the agriculture, food and engineering group, has sold its food division to Whitworths, the leading flour milling business, for £36m.

The sale of its flour mills is part of the Carlisle-based group's strategy to put its agriculture and engineering divisions at the forefront of innovation and technology on an international scale.

The deal – worth £24.9m net – will see £16m go to shareholders in the form of a Special Dividend of 17.54 pence per share. The remaining £8.9m provides the opportunity to expand the Group’s continuing businesses, both by acquisition and growth.

Tim Davies, Carr's chief executive, said the acquisition by Whitworths gave the food division the opportunity to build on its strong foundations.

He said: "We will continue to focus on our strategy of delivering growth in our UK agriculture business, the development of our international feed supplement businesses and building our specialist engineering division in niche markets across the globe.

"Carrs continues to benefit from both operational and geographic diversity and a strong balance sheet and we look forward to an exciting future focused on delivering growth in our higher margin products and services within the Agriculture and Engineering divisions."

Martin George, chairman of Whitworths Holdings Limited, said: "Carr’s Flour Mills Ltd shares a similar history to Whitworths in that it is a longstanding business which has received material investment in recent years.

"The business is a great fit geographically and will give us access to the South-East, North of England and Scottish markets that would otherwise not be available and means we have national reach."

Whitworths first approached Carrs and have taken on their staff.