Food investor eats up Yorkshire manufacturer
A COMPANY which makes 100m Yorkshire puddings a year has been bought in a buy-in, buy-out that has seen the founder exit.
Paul Holmes, who launched The Real Yorkshire Pudding Company in 1991 and moved it to its current site in Thorne, Doncaster five years later, has sold the 95% stake he held along with Marie Holmes.
Go2 Foods, an investment vehicle for food professionals Paul Simmonds and Rob Davies, has taken ownership while managing director Charles Payne, who held the other 5%, has re-invested and will continue to run the company. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
Mr Simmonds created Leeds-based snack food group Glisten Group, which he sold for around £20m to Raisio in 2010 before leaving the board in 2013.
He said: “We formed Go2 because we saw a great opportunity to work alongside Charles and his team to build on a high-quality platform which was already producing really good product, providing excellent customer service, and with the beginnings of a free-from offering in meal-solutions.
“We hope to grow both Go2 and RYP organically and through acquisition in the years ahead. RYP is a great start to our new venture.”
The Real Yorkshire Pudding Company has recorded four steady years with turnover increasing by around one-quarter to £8.4m and pre-tax profits averaging £670,000 over that period.
It employs more than 100 people and supplies chilled and frozen puddings to UK retailers and the foodservice market, and exports to Canada and Australia.
Go2 were advised by Robin Skelton, Jonathan Pollard and Becky Ashurst from the corporate team at Eversheds, and financial due diligence was undertaken by Brown Butler, led by Geoff Thomas.
Go2 Foods and The Real Yorkshire Pudding Company will now be banked by HSBC’s corporate team, which was led by relationship director Tom Sikora. Adrian Ballam at Schofield Sweeney acted for HSBC.
