Biscuit International Acquires Northumbrian Fine Foods
Biscuit International, one of Europe’s leading players in the private label sweet biscuit market owning Poult in France, Banketgroep in the Netherlands and A&W in Germany, has acquired Northumbrian Fine Foods (NFF), the UK’s leading gluten and milk-free biscuit manufacturer, from CriSeren Foods.
Created in 1936, NFF has experienced strong growth in recent years with an annual turnover exceeding £27 million in 2017. As well as supplying supermarket own-label biscuits, NFF also owns the Prewett’s brand.
This acquisition is in line with Biscuit International’s strategy to continue expanding its products offering and geographical footprint whilst addressing growing consumption trends in Europe such as organic and free-from products.
Biscuit International expects to leverage on NFF’s award-winning range of products, innovation and production capabilities as well as its experienced management team to seize growth opportunities on the free-from biscuit market. According to a Euromonitor study, gluten and milk-free products are expected to generate £8.7 billion in sales in Europe by 2021, a 60% increase compared to £5.4 billion in 2016 that is increasingly driven by change in consumers’ lifestyle.
The acquisition of NFF will allow Biscuit International to propose a wider offering to its European clients, whilst significantly reinforcing its presence in the United Kingdom. It will therefore enable NFF to address new markets throughout Europe for gluten and milk-free biscuits whilst at the same time offering Biscuit International the opportunity to benefit from NFF’s close working relationship with UK multiple retailers and brands.
Senior management at NFF will remain unchanged, with Biscuit International benefiting from the team’s experience to help drive growth in the European market. NFF Senior management decided to invest in Biscuit International equity alongside the other Biscuit International senior managers.
Giampaolo Schiratti, chief executive of Biscuit International, says: “The European free-from market is very dynamic and represents a real opportunity for growth. NFF’s expertise in gluten and milk-free biscuit production was a major attraction to us and the business provides an excellent fit into our portfolio of companies. We aim to further develop the business through innovation and creating exciting new products for the UK and European markets, and we anticipate this acquisition will lead our group to become Europe’s largest producer of gluten and milk-free sweet private label biscuits and strengthening the partnership with our customers, whether they are retailers or industrials. This ambitious move will contribute to offer an ever more diversified and qualitative product portfolio to our European customers and their consumers.”
Following the merger between Groupe Poult and Banketgroep in 2016 and the recent acquisition of A&W Feinbackwaren in Germany, Biscuit International became one of Europe’s leading private label biscuit players. The group produces 100,000 tons of biscuits and waffles from 12 factories in Europe. Biscuit International generated sales of €300 million in 2017, half of which were outside France, and employs 1,300 people. Biscuit International is owned by Qualium Investissement, a prominent player in the French private equity market with approximately €1.2 billion of assets under management, and a limited number of French and international institutional investors together with the company’s management team.
