Specialist bakery Finsbury Food Group has acquired snowballs maker Lees of Scotland for £5.7m in cash.
Established in 1931, Lees Food employs more than 200 staff at its site in Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire. The confectionery company has a market-leading position in meringues manufacturing and has significant capability in the sweet treats category, including teacakes and snowballs.
Finsbury said the takeover was is in line with its strategy to diversify product capability into areas with high-growth potential.
Lees has a broad customer base and has supply relationships with the UK supermarkets in addition to foodservice and export customers.
The Finsbury board said it believed it would be able to leverage the scale and breadth of the commercial team and licensed brand portfolio to drive incremental growth for Lees. In addition, there was expected to be scale for cost synergies over time.
Lees generated adjusted underlying EBITDA of £900k on adjusted underlying net sales of £21.6m in 2022.
Finsbury CEO John Duffy said he was “delighted” with the move to consolidate the group’s position in the sweet treats sector and grow its manufacturing presence in Scotland.
“Lees currently has a well-established position in the UK meringue category and strong relationships across a high quality and diverse customer base.
“This provides Finsbury with the opportunity to build upon both businesses’ existing retail relationships and unlock further commercial opportunities, including out of home.
“We look forward to welcoming Lees to the wider group.”
Shares in Finsbury have jumped 3.2% to 97.5p on the back of the deal.
No comments yet