Wholesale group Kitwave has made its first acquisition since listing on the AIM market last year with a £24.5m deal for a Devon company.
The North Shields firm has acquired the entire issued share capital of MJ Baker Foodservice Limited, which is based in Newton Abbot and is a leading food service supplier in the West Country.
MJ Baker was founded in 1999 and its most recent accounts, covering 2020, showed turnover of £16.9m and profit of £1.5m.
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The company offers more than 3,500 products in ambient, chilled and frozen foods, together with alcohol, confectionery and non-food items. It also has a range of products under the Bakers Best Buy lines.
Kitwave said that MJ Baker had net assets of £7.9m and it was acquiring around £6m in cash and £1m of property in the deal. It said the acquisition would be immediately earnings enhancing, with the MJ Baker business joining previous Kitwave acquisitions in its food service division.
Chief executive officer Paul Young said: “The acquisition of MJ Baker is an excellent addition to our foosdservice division and expands the group’s nationwide reach into the South West. MJ Baker is renowned for providing a quality delivered solution to its customers, a key part of the Kitwave Group ethos.
“I am delighted to welcome the MJ Baker team to Kitwave and we look forward to continuing to build our nationwide food service offering as part of our growth strategy.”
Kitwave was formed in 1987 after the acquisition of single wholesaler in North Shields specialising in confectionery. Through a series of acquisitions, it now has more than 1,000 employees and a network of wholesale depots around the country that supply a wide range of food, alcohol and tobacco to around 38,000 shop owners.
It last year listed on the AIM market in a deal that raised £64m for the company and £17.6m for selling shareholders. It said at the time that the listing would help it continue its strategy of acquiring smaller, often family-owned, companies in the wholesale market.
In November, Kitwave increased its profit forecasts and said that trading was returning to pre-pandemic levels following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
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