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Irish fruit importer Fyffes (FFY) has bought a second Canadian mushroom business, announcing the €41m acquisition of All Seasons Mushrooms this morning.

Fyffes has paid CAD$59.1m (€41m) to acquire 100% of the equity in All Seasons and refinance the debt of the country’s second largest mushroom producer.

The deal follows its acquisition of fellow Canadian mushroom business Highline Produce in April 2016.

Fyffes said All Seasons’ geographic reach will be “highly complementary” to that of Highline and current CEO of All Seasons, Frank Moscone, will remain in the business post acquisition.

Fyffes has based its CAD$59.1m valuation of All Seasons on a 7.5 times multiple of its 2015 reported EBITDA of CAD$7.8m. The estimated book value of All Season’s net assets amounts to CAD$39m on a debt free basis.

Fyffes said the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive, but that given the timing of the deal the impact on Fyffes 2016 earnings is expected to be limited to a 1% increase in adjusted earnings per share.

Fyffes chairman David McCann said: “All Seasons represents an excellent strategic addition to the Highline business which we acquired earlier this year. Together, Highline and All Seasons will be well placed to provide Canadian customers with a consistent supply of the highest quality mushrooms from coast to coast, while continuing to strategically supply US customers with premium and organic mushrooms.”

The fruit importer’s shares were up 1.2% in early trading to 136p and are now up 25% year-to-date.

Morning update

News is breaking that Amazon plans to expand its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service to 190 postcodes across greater London, which represents a doubling of its launch footprint of June.

Elsewhere, Dutch bottler Refresco Group (RFRG) has successfully completed the previously announced acquisition of US bottler Whitlock Packaging. Refresco said the acquisition of Whitlock will “create a new growth platform in North America with return and synergy potential, similar to Europe”.

The deal is valued at US$129m, equal to €117m on a debt and cash free basis.

Refresco shares have dipped 0.9% in Amsterdam to €14.90 on the news.

The FTSE 100 has continued its gains from yesterday rising another 0.5% so far this morning to 6,882pts.

However, there are few significant risers in the grocery sector, with those companies on the up led by C&C Group (CCR), up 1.9% to €3.83, and tobacco firms Imperial Brands (IMB) and British American Tobacco (BATS), both up 1% to 4,060.5p and 4,866.5p respectively.

The looming UK threat of Amazon has helped Ocado shares slump 5.2% this morning back down to 308.2p.

Also down are Real Good Food (RGD), down 2.6% to 33.1p, Science in Sport (SIS), down 1.4% to 71p and Tesco (TSCO), which has dropped 1.3% to 169p in early trading. 

Yesterday in the City

There was relief for the Poundland (PLND) board and many of its investors yesterday after its shareholders overwhelmingly backed the £610m takeover bid from South Africa’s Steinhoff Group despite fears activist investor Elliott Capital could derail the deal.

Poundland announced that votes representing 97.9% of shares at its Court Meeting and 98.4% of shares at its general meeting voted to back the deal yesterday.

The effect on the shares was limited, with the deal already priced into the stock. Poundland was up 1.3% to 227p – the level of the Steinhoff 225p per share bid once the 2p per share dividend is taken into account.

The FTSE 100 had a decent day, rising 0.3% to 6,846.5pts.

Shares of household goods manufacturer McBride (MCB) were up on increased earnings, despite sales declining more than £23m. Adjusted operating profits rose 27% to £36.2m in the year to 30 June and adjusted pre-tax profits were up 35.5% to £29.4m.

McBride shares rose 3.9% yesterday to 173p.

Other risers included Dairy Crest (DCG), up 2.1% to 687p, Cranswick (CWK), up 1.6% to 2,296p and Morrisons (MRW), up 1.1% to 200.2p.

Carr’s Group (CARR) continued its share price rise after selling its food division to Whitworths, climbing another 4.5% to 167.3p. Applegreen (APGN) was up 4.5% to 410p.

Fallers included PayPoint (PAY), down 1.8% to 1,011p, WH Smith (SMWH), down 1.4% to 1,590p and McColl’s (MCLS), down 1.2% to 166p.

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