Pudding brand Gü close to £150m sale

Noble Foods is close to selling its dessert brand Gü to Exponent Private Equity for £150 million. If the deal closes it would represent a 11.8x multiple of the company’s most recent gross profits of £12.7 million, generated on revenue of £47.9 million.

Exponent is understood to have entered into exclusive negotiations to buy the brand. However, the deal is reportedly not yet certain, with several other bidders, including both trade and finance parties, said to remain interested.

Gü is among the UK’s most popular pudding brands. In recent years, it has been a key driver in the booming luxury desserts market, boasting a 20 per cent market share among the UK’s premium dessert brands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also benefited from surging sales of comfort foods.

Gü was founded in 2003 by owner and MD James Averdiek. Noble Foods beat out interest from Mars and Nestle to acquire a majority stake in the company in 2010. Noble Foods considered a sale around two years ago, when Nestle again expressed an interest.

In November 2020, Noble Foods engaged bankers from Spayne Lindsay to manage an auction for Gü as the parent company’s new CEO Duncan Everett refocused the company’s strategy.

Gü’s most recently available accounts at Companies House cover the year to September 27 2019. In that period the brand generated post-tax profit of £1.2 million on its near £48 million in revenue. This was up from a £275,000 loss on £42.7 million in turnover the year prior.

At the time, the company held fixed assets valued at £50.3 million and current assets of £18.2 million. The company owed creditors close to £41 million, leaving it with net assets of £27.7 million.


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