Frutarom to Acquire British Company Savoury Flavours
Founded in 1999, SFL develops, manufactures, and markets savory taste solutions (the non-sweet taste spectrum), including mainly flavors, seasoning compounds, marinades and sauces, specializing in snacks and convenience foods.
Jan 5 2012 --- Jan 5 2012 --- Frutarom Industries Ltd. has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the British company Savoury Flavours (Holding) Ltd. and its subsidiaries (“SFL”), in return for the amount of approximately US$ 5.88 million (£3.77 million). The transaction was completed upon signing. SFL grew at a fast rate of 28% from a turnover of approximately US$5 million (£3.2 million) over the twelve months ending on September 30, 2010, to turnover of approximately US$6.6 million (£4.1 million) for the same period ending in 2011.
Founded in 1999, SFL develops, manufactures, and markets savory taste solutions (the non-sweet taste spectrum), including mainly flavors, seasoning compounds, marinades and sauces, specializing in snacks and convenience foods. SFL has a development, manufacturing and marketing site in the UK, and a wide customer base including food manufacturers and private labels manufacturers in the UK and in emerging markets. SFL’s production site is located close to EAFI’s production site (acquired by Frutarom on February 1, 2011), which manufacturers savory products as well. The geographic proximity, along with the two companies’ complimentary product portfolio, will allow significant business synergies between SFL and Frutarom’s savory activities throughout the world.
Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Frutarom President and CEO Ori Yehuda said that "The UK for us is a major market, we believe in local area supply for sweet and savoury flavours. EAFI was our first acquisition in savoury, now we plan to make several additional acquisitions to enhance and boost our position.
"A big business synergy in sweet and savoury flavours is very important to us. Expect support to continue to grow with the sweet flavour part (of our business) as we strengthen our position in savoury.
"The world economy is now frozen and we don’t predict it to unfreeze by 2013. We believe that the market for food products is more protected, we have seen growth this year and we believe next year will also be a year of growth. We have a very good partnership with the UK customers and we hope to continue our success in the UK."
Frutarom’s Savory activities throughout the world have increased significantly over the past few years following the acquisition of Nesse, Gewurzmuller and Chr. Hansen, acquired by Frutarom in 2006, 2007 and 2009 respectively, and the acquisition of EAFI, the savory activities of Rieber and of Ch. Hansen and FSI in 2011. The acquisition of SFL will allow Frutarom to expand its savory product portfolio and expand activities in developing markets.
According to Yehudai, “After five acquisitions completed in 2011, Frutarom is opening 2012 with an additional acquisition, which continues to strengthen its activities in the savory segment in Europe and in developing markets. This is an additional step towards strengthening Frutarom’s position in the UK market, where Frutarom in currently a leading sweet flavors manufacturer”.
“The global market for savory flavors is growing as a result of trends in improved quality-of-life and changes in consumer behavior, causing increased demand for processed and convenience foods. Frutarom has identified the savory segment as an important growth engine and is investing in the development of unique and innovative high added value products at its sites around the world. The acquisition of SFL, following previous acquisitions, is an additional step towards strengthening Frutarom’s leadership in this important segment, and we intend to continue to invest in the substantial expansion of our activities in the savory segment in additional destinations throughout the world, including through further acquisitions.
Mark Towler, Managing Director and founder of SFL, with his many years’ experience in the savory segment in general and specialized knowhow in the snacks and convenience food in particular, will continue to manage the business.”
“We are continuing to pursue additional strategic acquisitions and to implement our rapid growth strategy combining internal profitable growth with strategic acquisitions, in order to fulfill our Growth destinations and the vision ‘To be the preferred partner for tasty and healthy success’”, Yehudai stated.