US group Pinnacle Foods has entered into an agreement to buy a frozen warehouse and vegetable packaging facility from Ryder Integrated Logistics to support growth in its Birds Eye brand.
Pinnacle is to pay US$37.5m for the factory in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. It said the acquisition will be funded “with cash on hand” and will provide “incremental capacity beginning in early 2018”, according to a 7 August filing from the New Jersey-based company with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Last month, the company reported second-quarter sales fell 1.6% from a year earlier, partly as a result of a product exit and a recall surrounding its Aunt Jemima range due to the possibility of Listeria contamination. However, it reported “double-digit” growth in sales of its Birds Eye vegetables and meals.
Integration of the Beaver Dam site into Pinnacle’s supply chain is expected to begin in the second half of this year, the SEC filing said.
The filing went on to say “the facility is also expected to drive productivity and margin enhancement, consistent with the network optimization initiatives in the company’s long-term strategic plan, beginning in the second half of 2018”.
Ryder provides global supply-chain consulting.
