Muckle advise Kitwave Group plc on £21m acquisition
We’re delighted to have advised North Shields-headquartered Kitwave Group plc on its acquisition of a significant North of England food service business, established more than 130 years ago, in a deal worth £21m.
Lawyers from our corporate and real estate teams supported the team at Kitwave on its purchase of Total Foodservice. The company, which delivers wholesale catering supplies of around 4,000 product lines, including chilled, frozen and ambient food, non-food and cleaning products, will be integrated into Kitwave's existing foodservice division.
Its depots are located in Clitheroe and Huddersfield, with customers including licensed trade and restaurants, coffee shops, sandwich bars, and schools across the North of England.
For the financial year ended 30 April 2023, Total Foodservice reported turnover of £25.4m with a pre-tax profit of £2m and net assets of £8.5m.
Growth strategy
The board of Kitwave believes that the acquisition will immediately enhance earnings after adding back costs relating to the transaction.
Ben Maxted, chief executive of Kitwave, said: "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Total Foodservice, which is a one-stop shop for wholesale commercial catering supplies and enables us to further expand our product range offering across the North of England and in particular Yorkshire and the North West, complementing our existing foodservice offering.
"Total Foodservice is a well-established business in the catering industry and we look forward to welcoming its team to Kitwave and integrating the business into our Foodservice division.
"This acquisition is in line with Kitwave's growth strategy, and we will continue to seek to identify further opportunities in the UK's highly fragmented wholesale market to deliver further value to the group and its shareholders."
Wealth of experience and expertise
Corporate advice was provided by Anthony Evans and Sara Worsick, with Kate Rickett advising on property matters.
Anthony Evans said: “It was fantastic to work with Ben, David, Mark and the team at Kitwave again on their latest significant acquisition. It is great news for the region to have one of the leading AIM-listed companies based here and especially one which is achieving such significant growth and success. We are delighted to support their acquisition programme and very much look forward to seeing them continue to grow their offering across the UK.”
David Brind, Chief Financial Officer at Kitwave said: “It was great to once again work with the team from Muckle on the latest deal in our growth strategy. With deals like this, there are often many moving parts which all need to come together at the right time. Muckle worked seamlessly with the advisers on both sides to deliver this deal, and they provided everything we needed within tight timescales. We always find the team forward-thinking, commercially minded and the advice they provide is excellent.”
For more information about how our corporate team could help your business call Anthony Evans on 0191 211 7961 or email [email protected]