The Italian sweets brand Balconi, owned since 2015 by the Valeo Foods group, will focus on its development in the food market. retail modern Spanish in the coming years through organic growth without ruling out acquisitions. The group, with a presence in 80 countries, is iNumerous in a process of growth through purchases since its acquisition in 2021 by Bain Capital. The fund disbursed 1.5 billion euros for a group that, in addition to Balconi, manages leading brands in the British market such as Rowse honey or Kettle potatoes.
As recognized by Toni Quintana, head of Balconi in Spain and Portugal, “in the last nine months, Valeo Foods has acquired two companies in Italy, one in Eastern Europe and another in Canada. Our shareholder’s priority is the South of Europe, with Spain as one of the key markets and in which we do not exclude the possibility of proposing an operational position. We are in an open position to search for opportunities. And, as the manager points out, “currently We are growing at the rate of one acquisition every two or three months.
However, Quintana clarifies that his interest is directed to his business focus, “that of cupcakes and cookies, as long as they provide a plus. We are not going to grow with basics, but with more elaborate products that can be declined into individual snacks, with a more complex composition, such as the mixture of creams and textures. We will not stop at references for children and juniors, but we will look for that consumption that is stretching to 40 and 50.
Compete with the big guys
Bain Capital’s goal is convert Valeo Foods into “a reference group in the food segment snack sweet, that of industrial pastries, to compete with large companies such as Mondelez, Bimbo or Ferrero”, explains the head of Balconi.
Its plans for the Spanish market, in which it has been present for more than 15 years, involve making Balconi its reference brand in a country where it currently sells a daily average of 250,000 units of its products. snacks sweets in a network of 80,000 local businesses and in Alcampo, Eroski, Consum, Ahorramas or Condis chains, among others, thanks to its distribution agreement with Dulmadrid, the commercial division of Vicky Foods. “Our brand provides a foundation of credibility and transversality that will allow us to enter several categories thanks to a product of artisanal origin that currently has an industrial base, but without preservatives and artificial coloring,” Quintana clarifies.
After billing some 325 million euros in our country last year, the company’s forecasts for 2024 include an increase in this figure of around 25%, according to Quintana. “The objective of the brand’s strategic plan for Spain and Portugal is to invoice double in 2026 what was achieved in 2023. with a growth of approximately 25% per year”.
To achieve this, the group aims to gain notoriety in the sector with el launch of ranges that boost a category which, according to Quintana, “in countries like Spain it is very polarized between a very significant volume of industrial distribution brands and manufacturer brands with high prices for products that are not necessarily very qualitative.”
Although, at the moment, investment in large-scale advertising is not on the immediate horizon, the firm is will focus its efforts on positioning itself in campaigns with products such as panettone to boost your seasonally adjusted consumption in smaller formats.
#Balconi #invoice #opens #purchases #Spain
