Crosta Mollica has merged with the European pizza business spun-off by Nestlé three years ago into a venture with private-equity firm PAI Partners.
London-headquartered Crosta Mollica, which is positioned at the premium end of the UK pizza market, said the combination with European Pizza Group (EPG) will create a combined entity with €1bn ($1.1bn) in retail sales.
Housing brands such as Wagner and Buitoni, EPG supplies ten European markets, with manufacturing “operations” in Germany and Italy.
Crosta Mollica uses a co-production partner in the home of pizza to support its 'Made in Italy' brand credentials.
Speaking to Just Food last year, executive chairman David Milner said the UK made up 80% of Crosta Mollica’s annual branded sales and the rest of Europe 20%. Pizza is the largest cash earner for a portfolio that also features garlic bread, pasta, Italian flatbreads and desserts, and amaretti biscuits.
Accounts filed with Companies House in London, for the year through to the end of June 2025, showed the business generated a turnover of £67.6m ($89.7m), up from £49.2m from 12 months earlier.
Operating profit increased to £7.6m from £4.2m, while net profit more than doubled to £8.1m versus £3.3m.
However, in a statement today (23 September) revealing the EPG merger, Crosta Mollica said its retail sales have risen to €270m from €90m when Milner and current CEO Tom Sirett joined the company in January 2024.
Milner said today: “Wagner and Buitoni are strong brands with excellent positions across Europe. Bringing them together with Crosta Mollica creates a highly complementary portfolio.
“Our focus will be on building on the strengths of each business while using the scale and capabilities of the combined group to accelerate growth.”
After the transaction, Crosta Mollica and EPG will continue to operate as separate businesses but with Milner serving as CEO of the combined group.
Sirett will remain chief executive of Crosta Mollica and Matthias Casanova will stay CEO of EPG.
“There are no short-term plans to change the operating model of either company,” according to the statement, which added the “merger happens at a time of significantly favourable tailwinds in the European pizza market”.
European private-equity firm Perwyn, which backed Crosta Mollica in 2024 when Milner came to the fold, will continue to be involved with the combined business, along with Nestlé and PAI Partners.
When Nestlé revealed the spin-off of its frozen-pizza assets in Europe in 2023, the company said it would “retain a non-controlling stake” alongside PAI Partners.
At the time, the annual turnover of Nestlé's European pizza business was put at SFr400m ($485.9m today), supplying Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland and Portugal, among others.
Nestlé, meanwhile, has a joint-venture partnership with PAI Partners in ice cream with UK-based Froneri.
