-Swiss food group Aryzta has outlined plans to expand further into the North American market, with the acquisition of two baking companies marking a move away from their traditional frozen food business.News of Aryzta's most recent acquisitions, Pineridge Bakery in Canada and Cloverhill Bakery in the US, were revealed in their half-year results which were published yesterday.
€730 million was paid for the 100% ownership of both North American ventures.
The company said that “once complete, these acquisitions will significantly enlarge Aryzta’s bakery capabilities, customer access and product portfolio in north America and should provide double digit earnings per share accretion in fiscal 2015.”
Aryzta said it plans to invest an additional €70 million in the companies after the transactions are complete to support a strong growth pipeline and integration. The two companies had combined revenues of about €400 million.
In their HI results which account to the end of January 2014, Aryzta reported an operating profit of €65.3 million, down from €90.9 million for the same period of the previous financial year.
However, EBITA increased 6% to €198.2 million, and revenue rose 2% to €2.1 billion.
Commenting on the results, chief executive officer Owen Killian said that the company ontinues to make excellent progress with our Customer Centric strategy in this the final year of the Aryzta Transformation Initiative.”
“We have begun to undertake consolidation opportunities to extend market share and customer relevance in what is a fragmented sector. Continued financial discipline and strong cash generation will support these growth strategies, as well as improve our overall risk profile. We are guiding double-digit growth in underlying e.p.s. for FY 2014.”
