Sweden’s Humble Group has announced yet another acquisition, striking a deal to buy local confectioner Wellibites.
Humble, which has snapped up a number of businesses offering reduced-sugar foods in the last year, described Wellibites as “a leading brand in sugar-free and vitamin-enriched sweets”.
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Set up in 2018, Wellibites is forecasting sales of SEK21.1m (US$2.5m) and EBITDA of SEK5.1m “over the next 12 months”, Humble said today (11 June), without providing figures for the company’s last full financial year. The “lion’s share” of Wellibites sales are in Sweden and Norway, the company added.
Humble did not disclose how much it was paying to buy Wellibites. It stated a “majority” of the purchase price will be covered in shares issued at a price of SEK24.31, a premium of around 13% compared with yesterday’s closing price.
“It is a perfectly positioned acquisition that further consolidates our category-leading position in the candy health shelf,” Humble CEO Simon Petrén said.
In April, Humble, which changed its name from Bayn Group earlier this year, announced deals to buy five companies based in its home market.
The publicly-listed company announced a series of acquisitions in food in 2020, including that of Golden Athlete, a Swedish manufacturer of sugar and calorie-free sauces and dressings.
In 2020, the then Bayn generated net sales of SEK31.8m. On a pro-forma basis, if the acquisitions Bayn made during the year were part of the business for all of 2020, net sales were SEK433.4m.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA was a loss of SEK8.9m, a 32% “improvement” on 2019, Bayn said. On a pro-forma basis, Bayn booked an adjusted EBITDA of SEK50.4m.
