Crosta Mollica’s rapid ascent showed no signs of slowing last year after its acquisition by private equity.
Turnover at the Italian food brand was up 41% to £49.2m in the year to 30 June 2024, according to its latest accounts at Companies House. Pre-tax profits grew 29% to £4.5m.
This took its annual compound growth rate for the past three years to 36%.
The company was bought by private equity firm Perwyn in January last year, bringing in former Tyrrells and Lily’s Kitchen CEO David Milner as chairman as part of the deal.
The investment was said to help support Crosta Mollica’s international expansion. However, while it has now launched in several new countries, its accounts show the UK still accounting for almost all its sales.
“The next few years will see further rapid scaling-up of the group in terms of distribution, geography and product range, whilst building on its current strong foundations,” said a company spokeswoman.
Crosta Mollica launched its first pizzas in 2009 and these continue to be its biggest strength, with sales up 46%. It is now the fourth-biggest pizza brand in the UK, according to NIQ.
While it recently launched into other categories, such as pasta sauce and coffee, Milner told The Grocer last year he wanted to focus primarily on pizza as it makes up 70% of the company’s sales.
“One of my philosophies in business is: to be successful, you have to focus. You can’t be a part-time competitor in a category like pizza, because it’s highly competitive. So we have been focusing our energies more on pizza than we had previously. We’re very unlikely to go into any more categories.”
Last month, the business unveiled new branding to reinforce its “authentic Italian credentials”. Pack designs have been updated to “proudly showcase the pizza within”, while pizza names and ingredients now feature in Italian.
“This is the start of a new era for Crosta Mollica and I can’t wait for everyone to see it,” Milner said at the time.
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