Acquisition helps sales grow at cereal giant Weetabix
The acquisition of a cereal maker on the border between England and Wales helped sales at Weetabix increase by almost 10 per cent, it has been revealed.
It has been revealed that the acquisition of a cereal maker on the border between England and Wales helped Weetabix’s sales increase by almost 10 per cent.
Weetabix has posted net sales of $267.1m (£212.9m) for the six months to March 31, 2024, up 9.9 per cent.
The figures have been revealed by its US owner Post Holdings in filings for the first half of its financial year.
Post Holdings acquired the Northamptonshire-based Weetabix in 2017 in a deal which valued it at £1.4bn,
In its results, Post Holdings said that the rise in Weetabix’s sales was due to a foreign currency exchange rate tailwind of approximately 440 basis points as well as an extra $7.2m (£5.7m) in the second quarter following the acquisition of Deeside Cereals.
Deeside Cereals was acquired from Wholebake in December 2023 for an undisclosed sum.
In a statement issued at the time, Weetabix said that Deeside Cereals would continue to operate as a standalone business and that it was not “planning to make any changes to the site or workforce in the foreseeable future”.
In the year before it was acquired, the 12 months to April 1, 2023, Deeside Cereals made a turnover of £25.4m, down from £29.3m and a pre-tax loss of £6m after also losing £3.3m in the prior period.
Also during the first half of Post Holdings’ financial year, Weetabix made a profit of $39.1m (£31.1m), a decrease of 4.4 per cent.
However its adjusted EBITDA totalled $58.4m (£46.5m), an increase of 1.2 per cent.
For Post Holdings’ second quarter, Weetabix reported net sales of $138m (£110m), an increase of 10.5 per cent.
Excluding the impact of Deeside Cereals, volumes increased by 2.9 per cent, primarily driven by rises in private label products.
Weetabix’s profit for the three-month period was $18.1m (£14.4m), a decrease of 6.7 per cent, while its adjusted EBITDA was $27.8m (£22.1m), a fall of of 0.7 per cent.
Post Holdings itself reported net sales of $3.9bn (£3.1bn), an increase of 24.4 per cent, and a gross profit of $1.1bn (£876,9m), a rise of 39 per cent, for the six months.
