Agrial ‘committed to growth’ in UK with another acquisition

20-Aug-2017 - Last updated on 21-Aug-2017 at 14:44 GMT

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French cooperative Agrial, which manufactures prepared salads under the Florette brand, has said its acquisition of MyFresh Prepared Produce will ramp up its presence in what UK managing director Doug Robertson said is one of Europe's most "dynamic" and "developed" markets.

Under the agreement, Agrial will acquire the MyFresh production site, based in Wigan, from William Jackson Food Group. The MyFresh Chicksands unit will remain part of William Jackson and Agrial will transition from using the MyFresh name.

Agrial revealed MyFresh generates annual sales in the region of €50m and employs 300 people. Further financial terms were not disclosed.

Capacity, customers and innovation

The French agri-food cooperative, which generates an annual turnover to €5.2m, said that the acquisition will increase its production capacity and expand its customer base in the UK.

“It will provide considerable additional capacity for our business overall, especially in the area of foodservice,” Florette UK MD Robertson told FoodNavigator.

While MyFresh’s product line-up is “similar” to Agrial’s existing UK operations, which produce prepared salads under the Florette brand in Lichfield and Skelmersdale, Robertson said the acquisition “brings a variety of new products and product formats into the mix”.

The integration of MyFresh will also expand Florette’s reach in the foodservice sector, Robertson continued. “The customer base is highly complementary with very little overlap with our other sites. It specifically provides us with a much bigger foodservice customer base than we have had to date.”

Meanwhile, the combination of the two businesses will beef up the group’s innovation capabilities. “Our R&D capabilities will definitely be enhanced as we learn from the team at the Wigan site about their areas of expertise, and as they in turn access the R&D capabilities of the UK business unit and our wider business R&D capabilities as part of the Agrial group.”

MyFresh is a “highly successful” business and it will continue to operate on a “business as usual basis” but with the integration of its processes, policies and information-flow into the wider Florette UK business.

Convenience, health trends supporting category growth

Robertson said that this latest acquisition – which follows on the heels of its purchase of the Axgro beetroot business in Lincolnshire – demonstrates Agrial’s commitment to the UK.

He noted that the acquisition was not driven by “Brexit related thinking” and insisted that the UK market for prepared salads remains an attractive one despite growing economic uncertainty.

“The performance of the Leafy Prepared Salads market continues to be in good growth, up 3.9% in value in the latest 52 weeks. As with the rest of the grocery market, the pricing/value area continues to be very competitive. However, we believe that the outlook for the category remains strong as it has consistently outperformed the total grocery market due to the ongoing impact of the consumer’s joint desires to eat more healthily, but with the need for prepared products that allow them to do this conveniently.

“This acquisition, only a little over a year after the acquisition of the Axgro beetroot business in Lincolnshire, clearly shows that Agrial is committed to growing its presence in the UK market because of its belief that the market remains one of the most developed and dynamic in Europe for this category of products.”