Real Good Food to divest snack bar business Brighter Foods

UK-based Real Good Food has agreed to offload its snack bar subsidiary Brighter Foods to The Hut Group (THG) – the owner of Myprotein – for £43 million.

Based in Wales, Brighter Foods is a developer and manufacturer of healthy snack bars for global confectionery, wellness and breakfast food brands. The company is said to have already reformulated the majority of THG Nutrition’s bar range.

THG says the acquisition enables it to bring in-house decades of product know-how and innovative resources in the formulation and production of high-quality, healthier snack bars.

Upon completion of the transaction, Brighter Foods will expand the THG Nutrition division – joining Myprotein, Myvegan, Myvitamins and Exante.

The deal will also further enhance THG’s product development and in-house manufacturing capabilities, complementing the acquisition of nutrition product suppliers Claremont Ingredients and David Berryman last December.

“Brighter highly complements our developed vertical integration strategy and strengthens our capabilities in the growing convenience and snack bar market. Nutritional bars are a high growth category for THG, with significant product extension opportunity across all our brands,” said Matthew Moulding, executive chairman and CEO of THG.

“The Brighter team bring a wealth of bar manufacturing and product development expertise, and in line with the Claremont and Berryman’s acquisitions, enables THG to significantly accelerate the launch of further product innovation into global markets, while increasing the proportion of THG Nutrition products wholly manufactured in-house.”

For the 12 months prior to March 2021, Brighter Foods generated £19.8 million in revenues.

Mike Holt, executive chairman at Real Good Food, said: “We are very pleased with the disposal which crystallises substantial value for the group and enables us to halve our debt burden at a stroke, whilst materially improving the funding of the pension scheme. It also provides a basis for further balance sheet restructuring, as we look to accelerate and maximise value within Renshaw and Rainbow Dust Colours.”

The deal – subject to shareholder approval – is expected to be completed on or around 11 May.