Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods buys breakfast brand Fuel10K in a deal worth £34m
- Fuel10K was founded in 2012 and is based in Dingwall, Scotland
- Premier Foods said it will spend £29.6 million upfront for the breakfast brand
Food manufacturer Premier Foods has acquired breakfast brand Fuel10K in a deal worth £34 million.
The Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy owner said he will spend £29.6m upfront through his cash reserves and at least another £4m in the 2026/27 financial year for the business.
Founded in 2012 and based in the town of Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands, Fuel10K is a B Corp company that makes ‘protein enriched’ porridge, muesli and muffins, as well as biscuits, oat squares and flapjacks.
Acquisition: Food manufacturer Premier Foods has acquired breakfast brand Fuel10K
Most of Britain’s largest grocery and convenience channels stock the group’s food range, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Spar and Nisa, and customers can also buy their products on Amazon.
For the last fiscal year, the company reported that sales rose to a pre-tax profit of around £500,000, after increasing turnover to £18.5 million.
Barney Mauleverer, co-founder of FUEL10K, said: “We are very excited to hand over the reins to the owner of such a great stable of British brands.
‘Having laid the foundation from the beginning, the FUEL10K brand is now ready to accelerate into the future and achieve even more great things.
“I couldn’t think of a better custodian of our brand than Premier Foods to entrust with what we have started and make the most of such a great opportunity.”
Premier expects the acquisition to “earn a profit” in its first full year and that its net debt-to-profit ratio will decline this fiscal year.
CEO Alex Whitehouse said the deal “follows our successful integration” of Indian meal kit company The Spice Tailor, which completed in March and was Premier’s first acquisition in 15 years.
He added: ‘With its protein-enriched product range and attractive to a younger target group, we expect to achieve significant further profitable growth of FUEL10K through the deployment of our successful brand growth model.’
Premier’s latest acquisition follows a strong year for the company, which reported sales rose 21.1 percent in the 12 weeks to July on the back of soaring grocery sales.
Premier Foods shares were 3.4 per cent higher at £1.17 mid-Monday afternoon and have risen by around 13 per cent in the past year.