Norway-based food firm Orkla has extended this year’s acquisition spree with two deals in the UK – Cake Décor and For All Baking.
The transactions are being conducted by Orkla’s ingredients division via its wholly-owned subsidiary NIC Enterprises, which struck another UK deal late last year with Gortrush Trading, a manufacturer of ice-cream ingredients. The Orkla group has also acquired companies in Poland and Finland this year.
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Orkla Food Ingredients said it has entered an agreement to purchase both companies, which are based in Glasgow, Scotland, and supply retailers and bakeries.
Cake Décor makes cake decorations such as sprinkles, glazes, sugar pastes and baking mixes with the majority of its products sold through retail.
For All Baking is behind Sprinkles & Co., Cake Décor's e-commerce business that caters to artisan bakeries.
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By GlobalDataA spokesperson for Orkla confirmed the two companies are entirely separate entities, although For All Baking "operates as an integral part of Cake Décor" in handling the latter's online sales, either through the Sprinkles & Co. B2B platform or through the likes of Amazon.
Cake Décor was founded in 2006 and is owned and headed up by the main shareholder Bill Donnelly, who will continue to serve as managing director of the company for two years. The rest of the management team will also remain in place. The business generated a turnover last year of around GBP14.4m (US$19.9m).
The acquisitions of Cake Décor and For All Baking "will allow Orkla in the UK to expand into related products and offer a greater range to its core customers", the company said in a statement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In March, Orkla announced two deals including Polish sales and distribution company Ambasador92 and Finnish foodservice business Fort Deli.
Meanwhile, last week, the group revealed it was setting up a plant-based business, Orkla Alternative Proteins, with group president and CEO Jaan Ivar Semlitsch noting "we are just at the beginning of a massive shift towards alternative-protein sources".
In September, Orkla made a pledge to double revenues from planed-based foods to NOK1bn (US$120.2m today) by the end of this year, from NOK500m in 2019.
