26 February 2024 , 11:41
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The Nisbet family is set to bag a fortune after striking a £339 million deal to sell catering equipment company Nisbets to distribution giants Bunzl.
Bunzl will get an 80 per cent slice of the firm, valuing Nisbets at over £500 million. Founder Andrew Nisbet will step down to become a non-executive director. Key West Holdings holds the Nisbet family's business interests.
Some 1,800 workers will be kept on and Bunzl also has the choice to buy the final 20 per cent of Nisbets in the future. Bunzl chief executive Frank van Zanten said: "Andrew Nisbet has built a high-quality business, with a well-respected management team."
"The business is complementary to our operations in the catering equipment sector and will enhance our own-brand offering and digital capabilities." Nisbets sells its own brand of catering products across 26 locations in the UK and Ireland, plus 11 more in Australia, as well as branches across countries including Holland and France.
"Andrew Nisbet has built a high-quality business, with a well-respected management team." "The business is complementary to our operations in the catering equipment sector and will enhance our own-brand offering and digital capabilities."Bunzl has shared that the team at Nisbet will stay on after they sell it, with Peter Sephton leading as chairman and chief executive.
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Nisbets did really well last year, making £40.2 million before taxes and bringing in £498 million. Mr Sephton said: "Based on our extensive engagement with them over the past months, it became clear that both parties have a shared vision and a commitment to customers and colleagues that will build on Nisbets' heritage and growth strategy."
He added: "The acquisition will help drive our strategy for growth by bringing both strategic and operational value to Nisbets."
In January, Bunzl also made a deal to buy Pamark in Finland, which will be completed later this month. This is Bunzl's first time buying a company in Finland, and now they work in 33 countries.
Bunzl said their profits before taxes went up by 4.4% to £853.7 million in 2023. They think they'll meet their profit goals for 2024, but they've had a slow start in the US this year.
Bunzl, a FTSE 100-listed company that supplies businesses globally with various products like coffee cups and food labels for department stores and hospitals, made 19 acquisitions in 2023. This takes their total spending on acquisitions to £1.7 billion over the past four years.