Finsbury Food Group acquires Scottish bakery peer Lees Foods

Speciality bakery manufacturer Finsbury Food Group has announced the acquisition of Lees Foods Limited, a leading manufacturer of meringues, teacakes and snowballs, for £5.7 million.

Established in 1931, Lees employs more than 200 staff at its site in Coatbridge, Scotland. The company has a UK market-leading position in the manufacture of meringues and has significant capability in the sweet treats category, adjacent to Finsbury's existing markets.

Finsbury produces a diverse range of cakes, bread and morning goods for both the retail and foodservice channels in the UK and Europe.

Finsbury said the acquisition is in line with its strategy to diversify its product capability into areas with high growth potential. It hopes to leverage the scale and breadth of its commercial team and licensed brand portfolio to drive incremental growth for Lees.

Lees has a broad customer base and holds strong supply relationships with the leading UK supermarkets, independents and wholesalers, in addition to foodservice and export customers. Its adjusted underlying EBITDA is £0.9m from adjusted underlying net sales of £21.6m in the year ended on 31 December 2022.

“We are delighted to announce the strategic acquisition of Lees Foods Limited, as we consolidate our position in the sweet treats sector and grow our manufacturing presence in Scotland,” John Duffy, chief executive of Finsbury Food Group, commented.

“Lees currently has a well-established position in the UK meringue category and strong relationships across a high quality and diverse customer base. This provides Finsbury with the opportunity to build upon both businesses' existing retail relationships and unlock further commercial opportunities, including out of home. We look forward to welcoming Lees to the wider Group.”

Finsbury Food Group one of the largest speciality bakery groups in the UK and, together with its overseas division, has sales in the financial year ending 2 July 2022 of £357m.

It supplies a broad range of blue-chip customers within both the grocery retail and 'out of home eating' foodservice sectors including major multiples and leading foodservice providers.

In the UK, the company currently has seven manufacturing sites, and two others in Poland. Its overseas division supplies and distributes the group's UK-manufactured products and third-party products primarily to Europe.