General Mills is paying about 4X sales which seem rather costly compared to B&G foods last years acquisition of Pirates Booty. I had discussion with someone else that Coke might make a good candidate
for LNCE.
P.S. Pirates Booty we buy all the time. It's my Granddaughters favorite snack.
Oldie:
Pickles and Cheese Puffs? B&G Snags Pirate's Booty
By
David Benoit
Updated June 11, 2013 3:05 p.m. ET
B&G Foods Inc. BGS -3.64% is putting its treasure into pirates.
The grocery-brand conglomerate is paying $195 million to buy the maker of Pirate's Booty, a popular rice and corn snack flavored with cheddar cheese.
B&G Foods—the owner of Grandma's Molasses, Ortega taco ingredients, Cream of Wheat and its namesake pickles, among other grocery brands—has been branching into the snack aisle.
Pirate Brands
In the past year B&G bought New York Style bagel crisps and Old London crackers as well as TrueNorth nut clusters.
CEO David Wenner told analysts on a conference call that the Pirate Brands acquisition was richer than the typical B&G deal, but he said Pirate's Booty was going to expand the company's offerings and its growth rate.
He added that he hoped that it would "broaden our appeal as a stock."
Shares rose 6.8% to $31.17 on Monday on the Big Board.
Pirate's Booty is currently owned by financial backers VMG Partners and Driven Capital Management as well as Robert Ehrlich, who founded the business in 1987.
B&G expects Pirate Brands to generate $80 million to $90 million in annual sales once the business is fully integrated.
Mr. Wenner said Pirate's Booty had been growing at double-digit rates in recent years. And despite its high valuation, the deal would still be cash-flow accretive on closing, which it expects next month, he said.
B&G's annual sales totaled $633.8 million last year.
With flavors including "Barrrrrbeque," Pirate's Booty is marketed toward children, not the main audience for a company that makes condiments, canned beans and seasonings.
Still, Mr. Wenner said he believed the all-natural and healthy-snack aspects of the brand is particularly relevant to today's consumer.
"The brand is oriented toward kids to a great degree but kids are certainly not the only users," Wenner said. "The fact that it is in the house tends to mean everybody is eating the product."
Mr. Wenner said B&G saw opportunities for expanding flavors, as the majority of sales are white cheddar, and that in general B&G is looking at snack foods as a way to boost its growth.
"We understand that snacks, by definition almost, is a higher-growth business that we need to think about differently than we do most of our businesses," Mr. Wenner said.
Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@dowjones.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Pirate Brands calls its snack products all-natural. An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized the products as organic.
online.wsj.com |
