Pledge to Mitsubishi of huge growth in turnover Princes set for new takeovers Exclusive Clive Beddall Princes Foods, which has doubled its foodservice business by buying rival canned goods group Oxbridge Foods, is staying on the acquisition trail with bottled water and ready meals its next targets. The company, one of the fastest growing fmcg brands pledged to parent Mitsubishi it would grow turnover from £400m in 1997 to more than £750m by 2000. Talking exclusively to The Grocer, chief executive John Mutch said: "Turnover targets are milestones in our longer term business ambitions ­ not destinations. "We have looked at two UK snack foods operations and bottled water is the missing part of our portfolio, so that could be next. Chilled and ready meal companies are also likely acquisition areas." Mutch says it's part of Princes' goal to be the number one supplier in every category in which it participates. Like other industry commentators, he predicts price or promotional competition will heat up in canned tuna where 3% market growth has been regularly seen in recent years. Princes' plans will see it coming up against an increasingly ambitious Heinz, which has been strengthening its worldwide sourcing base after buying the John West label. But while Mutch is prepared for aggressive tactics he added: "Despite the Heinz ambitions, we enjoy the strength of being the biggest private and branded supplier of tuna in the UK. "And while there will be price or promotional competition, there will also be a lot more category management approaches on tuna than either group has done in the past." Mutch is confident the Mitsubishi connection will open doors for Princes on a worldwide basis. For although the Japanese global giant is essentially a hands off parent, in addition to financial backing, it affords massive worldwide commercial intelligence. Mutch added: "We're the third largest company within Mitsubishi's food division of 150 firms and, more importantly, we've demonstrated our ability to compete in the most demanding of markets, establishing a preferred supplier and category management status with the multiples. "Our dedicated acquisitions team is proving its effectiveness and it will not be too long before we break the £1bn turnover barrier." {{NEWS }}

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