Greencore Group bags The Sandwich Factory from Cranswick in tasty £15m deal
Irish food group Greencore has bagged food-to-go producer The Sandwich Factory from Cranswick in a deal worth up to £15m.
The Sandwich Factory, which operates from a single facility in Warwickshire, produces a range of products for convenience stores and food service channels. Its net revenue for the year ended 31 March was £42m.
Greencore is already one of the world's leading producers of pre-packed sandwiches and manufactures more than 500m food-to-go products each year for leading retailers including Marks & Spencer and Boots.
It said in a statement today it will pay up to £15m for the company and will fund the acquisition from existing debt facilities.
Read more: Sushi and sandwich maker Greencore serves up a jump in quarterly sales
Cranswick's brands include Bodega, Simply Sausages, Yorkshire Baker and Woodall's.
"This acquisition makes strong strategic sense for Greencore, given our ongoing focus on the food to go market. The Sandwich Factory will extend our reach into customer channels in which we are currently under represented, notably convenience stores and the travel sector, and will also bring new product types into the Greencore portfolio," Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said.
"We are delighted to be adding more capacity to our manufacturing network, and to be welcoming new colleagues to our business."
Last year, Greencore's pre-tax profits increased 33.8 per cent after it won several new contracts in the UK and expanded its presence in the US, where it supplies coffee chains including Starbucks with sandwiches.