Premier deal takes Princes’ sales to £1.5bn

THE £180m acquisition last year of Premier Food’s canned food operations pushed sales at Princes, the Liverpool-based food group up 28% to a record £1.51bn.

Results for the year to the end of March showed the Japan-owned group increasing pre-profits by 12.4% to from £42m to £47.2m.

The acquisition of the East Anglia-based Premier Foods business brought a number of brands including Crosse & Blackwell, Farrow’s and Smedley’s into the Princes’ portfolio. It also brought long-term agreements to manufacture certain products for the Branston and Batchelors brands under licence.
 
The deal made Princes the UK’s largest manufacturer and supplier of canned food and it has invested more than £4m in relaunching the Crosse & Blackwell brand with a range of canned soup and vegetable products sold in supermarkets and convenience stores.
 
Princes also made significant progress during the year with its strategic expansion into Europe and other continental markets, with non-UK sales soaring 26% to £388m.
 
During the current financial year Princes has invested in a new company in Italy which bought one of the most modern and efficient ambient tomato processing facilities in Europe, a 120,000 sq metre processing factory.

The new venture, which is 51% owned by Princes, is set to help the group achieve its goal of doubling the size of its continental European revenues over the next five years.  
 
The group now employs more than 6,000 people, and operates 14 major food and drink production sites.

Managing director Ken Critchley said: “Princes made excellent progress during the last financial year by delivering a strategic plan which is focused on achieving UK and international growth by investing in our brands, our production and supply capabilities, forming new strategic partnerships and opening new customer markets.
 
“We have successfully integrated our newly-acquired operations and brands into the group and are benefiting from the early investment we have made into new product and brand development. In particular, we are growing distribution and sales of our award-winning Crosse & Blackwell products, which are achieving strong sales in our core markets.
 
“The group has also invested in the infrastructure and people to build on our international growth, which is a core part of our strategy.”