Greencore Group has announced that it has today completed the acquisition of Freshtime UK Limited, a 'well-established' supplier of food to go salads, chilled snacks and prepared produce in the UK.
In a statement, the group outlined that total consideration for the acquisition comprises an enterprise value of almost €62 million, cash on the acquired balance sheet and a normalised level of working capital.
This will be funded from existing debt facilities and the Group expects to remain within its medium term leverage range following the acquisition, it explained.
Highly Complementary
The acquired business will extend 'Greencore’s presence in food to go salads and chilled snacking and Freshtime’s strong customer base is highly complementary to the Group’s existing portfolio'.
Commenting on the transaction, Patrick Coveney, CEO of Greencore, said: "It is a business and a customer set that we know very well and it provides us with an exciting opportunity to enhance our product offering, add further capacity to our manufacturing network, and help drive growth and value for shareholders."
The manufacturer of convenience foods in the UK, already distributes a large proportion of Freshtime’s products through its Direct to Store network, reflected as revenue from the distribution of third party products.
Its products are distributed primarily in the grocery and convenience channels and the business operates from a single facility in Boston, Lincolnshire.
According to the the convenience food manufacturer, within the 12 months ended December 2018, Freshtime generated revenues of £66.0 million and profit before tax of £5.6 million.
Gross assets at 31 December 2018 were £22 million, it said.
Latest Trading Update
At the end of July this year, Greencore posted a pro forma basis, revenue increase of 0.8% in its third quarter.
Year to date, the group’s reported revenue from continuing operations was £1,066.4 million, its latest trading update which covers the 13 weeks to 28 June 2019 showed.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
