HILLSDOWN Holdings has bought the European biscuit operations of drinks group Allied Domecq for £48.9 million sterling.

The business, known as Continental Bakeries, is a pan European manufacturer of sweet and unsweetened biscuit products. Last year its turnover totalled £127 million and operating profits were £2.9 million. Hillsdown said it would become one of the leading biscuit manufacturers in Europe with sales well above £350 million a year.