Low-fat gain for Memory Lane group

Oct 2 2007 by Phillip Nifield, South Wales Echo

THE owners of Memory Lane Cakes in Cardiff announced today that it had acquired the food company that distributes the WeightWatchers brand.

Premium cake-makers Finsbury Food has bought Anthony Alan Foods Ltd for a maximum of £3.75m.

Anthony Alan was founded in 2001 to develop a low-fat cake brand in partnership with WeightWatchers. Sales in the last year were £11.6m with profits before tax of £700,000.

The acquisition of the share capital will be for a maximum of £3.75m. A total of £350,000 is payable on completion and another £500,000 on achieving certain performance targets for the year to March 2008.

A further payment of up to £2.90m will become due in November 2009 provided that the WeightWatchers’ licence is renewed for a further three years.

WeightWatchers brand is the largest in the low-fat cake sector with a market share of 58 per cent.

Dave Brooks, Finsbury Food Group plc’s chief executive, said: “Through this acquisition, we will be able to drive the growth of the business further and develop the product range.”