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Frozen pizza giant Freiberger Group is set to invest “hundreds of millions” into a new global growth strategy.
The Berlin-based private-label operator said the investment will involve expanding production capabilities, developing new markets and modernising existing sites.
The investment will include a new frozen pizza factory in the UK, where it owns Stateside Foods. The group said it will be equipped with “state-of-the-art stone oven technology”. Production is set to commence in March 2025, and it will supply the UK market as well as a large number of Commonwealth countries.
The group said it was cutting back on what it called peripheral operations to focus on pizza, from entry-level to premium options.
In the US, its subsidiary Richelieu Foods divested its sauces and dressings division in Jul,y leaving it solely focused on pizza with a new North American pizza line set to go into operation next year.
A third element of its investment will see Freiberger expanding and modernising its plants in continental Europe in order to strengthen its position there and drive expansion into eastern Europe.
“We are pizza, and we are proud of our almost 50 years of expertise, which has led us to market leadership and long-standing, trusting partnerships with our customers and suppliers,” said Freiberger Group CSO Thomas Schulz.
“The company wants to continue to grow on this basis and be a pioneer in all areas. Freiberger is not only focusing on the quality of its products, innovations and the efficiency of its work processes, but is also making targeted investments in the area of sustainability, for example with more environmentally-friendly packaging concepts. In addition, the global market is to be further developed and new sales channels added, for example in the food service sector.”
Morning update
Logistics enabler and automated parcel machines operator InPost has tripled its UK revenue in the first half of the year. InPost reported half year results to the end of June, with UK revenue hitting £46.7m.
The company, which operates lockers and partnerships with many UK grocery retailers, also said parcel volumes increased by 163% to 23.6 million.
It expanded its UK network of out-of-home collection points to 9,600. This was up 58% on the previous year. Of these 7,502 are automated parcel machines, and InPost added 670 of these during Q2.
In June Co-op announced it was expanding its partnership with InPost and that it planned to have lockers at 150 stores by the end of this year.
“In Q2 2024, we delivered another set of strong operational and financial results. At the group level, we once again reported strong above-market volumes, revenue and profits. We are accelerating our APM network expansion. Last quarter, we set a new record for locker deployments, with 3,000 new APMs,” said InPost Group founder and CEO Rafał Brzoska.
“In the UK, our fastest-growing market, we have accelerated our growth compared with Q1 2024. We are improving network utilisation, and our app was among the top 10 most downloaded lifestyle apps in the UK many times this year.
“We remain consistent in executing our strategy for each market and continue to focus on our expansion while maintaining cost discipline.”
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