Food & Beverage Q1 2019 Insights

Allyum's industry expert, Martin DELÉPINE, gives his Q1 2019 insights on the F&B industry

The first quarter of 2019 was a period of moderate M&A activity in the food & beverage industry due to a slowdown in the food segment. In line with previous quarters, deals are mainly realized by private strategic buyers willing to expand their product portfolio or geographical reach. 

However, the beverage segment experienced a more active quarter than has been seen recently. The deal volume increase in the beverage segment for the Benelux and France is in line with the global trend and is characterized by a robust evolution of sales multiples for the brewing and non-alcoholic beverage segment. Following market research, both segments will increase by respectively 6.2% and 4.7% p.a. to attain a global market size in 2023 of c. USD 750bn and 1,150bn. Main drivers behind this growth will be the premium/craft beers and the natural (healthy) non-alcoholic beverages such as tonics (e.g. Fever Tree), iced teas and flavored water. At this stage, these booming beverage markets are still relatively fragmented markets, and hence are anticipating a wave of consolidation on behalf of large beverage players wishing to enter these markets. 

Next to this, there were also several notable transactions in the (non-)frozen bakery & pastry market. As the expected growth of this market is limited in Europe, bakery players try to increase their growth potential through an expansion of their product portfolio. Examples of this type of investment rationale are the acquisition of Ingapan by Europastry or Les Délices du Chef by Naturellement Gourmand, a PE-backed buy-and-build platform for food companies in France. 

Martin Delépine, Director

+32 (0)2 626 25 00

martin@allyum.com