The boss of Nomad Foods – the frozen food company behind brands like Birds Eye and Findus – has an acquisitions fund of €600 million at his disposal, according to an interview with Reuters.
Stefan Descheemaeker told the press agency that Nomad was finally in a good position to extend growth through acquisitions, after three years of consolidating decline.
But in March, it reported revenue for 2016 of €1.93 billion, resulting in a €36.4 million profit after tax, amid volume growth in the European frozen food sector.
“The first two years were fully dedicated to making sure our fundamentals were sound. We’re starting to get there,” Descheemaeker said in an interview. “That was the key.”
“When you’re getting out of a turnaround, it’s initially difficult to see where you’re going to be. So we’re starting to discover this interesting world of positive growth.”
The most likely targets would be frozen food brands in Europe, which would immediately complement Nomad’s Birds Eye and Iglo brands and sit comfortably alongside Findus, after Nomad Foods acquired its European business in 2015. The move to acquire those parts of its business is believed to have cost a combined €3.2 billion.
Reuters reported that there were potential targets in frozen poultry in Scandinavia, or other areas such as frozen pizza and desserts.
“After that, the company might look at European non-frozen foods or non-European foods,” Reuters added.
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