Frutarom buys another UK flavour firm, Jupiter

Frutarom is continuing its strategic shopping spree with the acquisition of UK flavour firm Jupiter, less than a month after an agreement to acquire Belmay.

The Belmay buy, for US$17.1m (c €12.8m), was said to propel Frutarom into the leading position in UK flavours.

By buying Jupiter as well, a company that saw sales of around US$2m (€1.47m) in the past 12 months, for US$2.8m (€2m), the Israeli firm is bolstering its product offering to customers as well as adding to its customer base.

The acquisition agreement also includes a deferred payment of up to $600,000, based on future results.

"Frutarom intends to integrate the acquired activity with its own activity in the British market in order to achieve the greatest possible operational efficiency and savings, and estimates that this will not require additional resources," said the company.

Jupiter develops its flavours at its in-house laboratory on the Wirral in Merseyside, UK.

Frutarom's UK operations are based in Kettering, Northamptonshire, and Belmay's facilities nearby.

With respect to Belmay, Frutarom said that the management team will be incorporated into Frutarom's, and they will lead the UK operation together.

Once Frutarom has completed a review of its own and Belmay's operations in various countries, it expects synergies to result in annual operational savings in the region of $3m (c €2.25m).

Frutarom presently has a rapid growth strategy in place, and the Belmay and Jupiter acquisitions follow its acquisition of Acatris Health in October 2006 and before that the savoury solution activities of Nesse Group (70 per cent of the share equity).

Last month Frutarom reported sales of US$287.2m (c €215m) in full year 2006, up from $243.8 (c €183m) in 2005.

Operating profits for the year increased 12.9 per cent over 2005 to $37.1m (€27.8m)

In addition to being the company's seventh consecutive year of growth, 2006 will also go down in company annals as the year when it was in a position to claim it had achieved its aim of becoming one of the top ten flavour companies in the world.