This decision has been made in the wake of its acquisition of Big Bear Group earlier this year and continued investment from its Finnish parent, Raisio.
Raisio owns international brands such as Benecol and Elovena. Glisten has a turnover of £150m (€180m), and now accounts for 40% of Raisio’s annual sales (€443m in 2010).
With BBG’s brands fully incorporated, Glisten boasts some of the UK’s most well-known food marques, including Honey Monster, Fox’s Glacier Mints, Harvest Chewee bars and Just Brazils. The firm is now the second-largest supplier of supermarket own-brands in UK Confectionery – with Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose, Aldi, Spar, Next, CandyKing and Poundland, among others, as customers.
Glisten employs 950 people across 11 manufacturing sites in the UK and is also at the forefront of growing consumer demand for healthier snacking including fair-trade, organic, high-fruit, dietary and functional snack-foods. It produces and markets over 1,000 products and owns or licenses brands such as Fruitus Organic Cereal Bars, Weight Watchers Savoury Snacks and SunMaid coated fruits.
Fully supported by Raisio, Glisten will now look to leverage the strong brand capital of its marques, roll out new products and diversify into new categories with the aim of growing market in the UK and Europe.
Raisio has a strong balance sheet with a net cash position. Glisten also recently moved its full-service banking account to Royal Bank of Scotland’s Leeds-based Corporate & Institutional Banking (RBS CIB) office, with RBS CIB providing a £5m funding facility to help with ad hoc capital requirements and further product development.
Robert Davies, finance director at Glisten, said: “We think Raisio Western Europe (RWE)/Glisten is about to enter an era of very strong growth. The acquisition of Big Bear coupled with the incredible support from Raisio means Glisten will be able to unlock exciting new products and ambitious new revenue streams. The group is benefitting from a new divisional structure, alongside a new senior commercial team and new facilities, and it is only right that we are also working with a new bank in Royal Bank of Scotland.”
Source: Glisten
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