Hilton Food Group has received clearance from the Dutch competition authorities to complete the £77 million buy-out of Foppen, a specialist smoked salmon business.
It will integrate the £119.3 million turnover firm alongside its Grimsby-based Hilton Seafoods - the result of the 2017 acquisition of Seachill - should it now receive works council consent.
The development was reported to the City in a trading update on 2021.
Read more: £75m seafood industry boost welcomed as innovation, infrastructure and skills to benefit
The FTSE-listed diversifying meat specialist reported performance in line with the board’s expectations, with year-on-year sales growth driven predominantly by organic expansion.
The statement, released by chief executive Philip Heffer and chief financial officer Nigel Majewski, said: “Over the two year period we have seen strong, sustained growth, as we deliver towards our goal of becoming the global protein partner of choice.”
Rapid growth is being generated by the Huntingdon-headquartered firm in Australia, while in Europe it “continued to make good progress”. Revenues remained static as lockdown restrictions that saw supermarket sales fly were lifted.
“As expected against strong prior year comparatives, regional revenue is broadly flat for the year reflecting the increase in consumers eating out following the re-opening of food service in the second half,” they said.
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On Foppen - with the deal agreed in the year it also bought out its joint venture partner in Dutch vegetarian and vegan food producer Dalco, as well as the 海角视频 food service protein provider Fairfax Meadow - they said: “In December, we announced the acquisition of the speciality smoked salmon producer, Foppen. We have now received Dutch competition authority clearance for acquiring Foppen, and are currently working to obtain works council approval. In all cases we are developing plans to continue to grow these businesses and integrate them into the group.”
As reported, Foppen has a strong domestic sales base as well as US retail customers. Its premium product portfolio and strong customer relationships were seen as a “great fit”.
The pair added that Hilton's trading outlook remains positive, with growth prospects underpinned by the expansion plans, acquisitions.
"Funding is in place to cover the announced expansions and the group's financial position remains strong", they said. "We will continue to explore opportunities to grow the business in both domestic and overseas markets."
Results for 2021 are to be published in April.
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