Food company also takes a 10-year long licensing of Toddy brand

08/24/2022

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Luciano Quartiero — Foto: Divulgação

Food company Camil announced Tuesday the purchase of the Mabel brand of cookies and the 10-year-long licensing of the Toddy brand. The business, which had been bought by PepsiCo in 2011 for R$800 million, was now sold to Camil for less than R$200 million, sources told Pipeline, Valor’s business website.

The acquisition still depends on approval by the antitrust regulator CADE. Camil CEO Luciano Quartiero said the deal may add about R$1 billion per year to the company’s revenues in the medium term.

In the fiscal year 2021, which ended in February, Camil’s revenue reached R$10.26 billion, with a growth of 20.8% compared to 2020. Net income increased 3.5% in comparison, to R$478.7 million, and operating income, measured by EBITDA, rose 2.9%, to R$809.8 million.

According to information from the companies, the Toddy line of cookies is the second-largest in sales in Brazil, with a top-of-mind awareness above 98%. Besides Toddy cookies, the acquisition includes the brands Doce Vida, Mirabel, Elbi’s, and Pavesino.

Also included in the deal are the industrial plants in Aparecida de Goiânia (Goiás) and Itaporanga D’Ajuda (Sergipe), with around 800 employees in total. According to Mr. Quartiero, the two units have idle capacity, which strengthens the growth potential of the operation — which also involves other assets that produce Toddy cookies.

“We will be able to double Mabel’s sales volume without new investments”, Mr. Quartiero told Valor. According to him, the acquisition was carried out with the company’s own cash. At the end of the second quarter of the current fiscal year, in May, cash reserves totaled R$1.3 billion.

The executive emphasized that the purchase has great synergy with the company’s operations. “Cookies are a large value-added category that can be sold to our customers with all the others we work with. This is a huge force to accelerate our growth,” he said.

Since July 2021, Camil has made five acquisitions, in line with the CEO’s previously announced strategy. The first was Dajahu, in the Ecuadorian rice market. In August last year, the company bought Santa Amália and entered the pasta area. In September, there was the incorporation of the Seleto coffee brand, and the announcement of an investment in the company Café Bom Dia, with the relaunch of the União brand, also in the coffee market. In December, Camil announced the acquisition of Silcom, in Uruguay, a healthy products company. Considering these five deals, Camil invested R$848 million.

“Fifteen years ago, Camil was only a rice and beans company. Today, these products represent 35% of the company’s consolidated revenue,” said Mr. Quartiero. The CEO adds that new acquisitions are still on the radar, to reinforce the new “multiple company” profile in the food area.

The acquisitions and growth have not yet been reflected in stocks. With little liquidity, they continue to show little oscillation, although its net debt is also considered relatively low — R$2.1 billion at the end of the second quarter (leverage of 2.4 times).

Therefore, in March the board approved a buyback program for up to 10 million shares within 18 months. This left Camil with 360 million common shares outstanding.

*By Fernanda Pressinott — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/