Ranjit Singh Boparan has emerged as a white knight and saviour for historic bakery Roberts as his Boparan Private Office investment firm put together a last-minute rescue deal this week, as revealed by The Grocer early this morning.
It is a most welcome early Christmas present for the 433 Roberts staff across two sites whose jobs have been saved by the pre-pack administration transaction – although, not for the 86 staff made redundant last night as PwC were appointed. The investment also preserved a 138-year-old heritage at Roberts, which was run by the fourth generation of family owners.
The Grocer understands BPO swooped in at the 11th hour to buy the Winsford biscuit factory and sliced white bread HQ in Northwich. Insolvency sources had expected Warburtons to pick up the speciality site in Derbyshire – which did come to fruition – and Endless-owned BBF to buy the biscuit operation. However, the main bread factory was predicted to be toast.
Sliced bread woes
The big question is why on earth does the ‘Chicken King’ want a struggling factory selling traditional and out-of-fashion sliced bread? It’s not something any City or bakery source The Grocer has spoken to can answer.
“It doesn’t chime with the mood music in the category,” says one source. “The rationale for going deeper into bakery for BPO is strange.”
There is already overcapacity in the wrapped bread industry, with the big surprise, perhaps, that no major player had yet to go to the wall.
Sliced white bread has been faltering for years as shoppers shun UPFs in larger and larger numbers. Value sales at Roberts sank by 28% last year [NIQ 52 w/e 7 September 2024] and another 25% in the 52 weeks to 22 February 2025 [NIQ], according to recent category reports in The Grocer. Although, some of those drops are the result of the terrible fire that raged through the Northwich factory in 2023.
The picture isn’t any rosier for the likes of Hovis and Kingsmill, which have finally decided to combine resources in a bid to turn around big losses.
Indeed, the woes of standard sliced bread led to a 2.3% decline in the overall wrapped bread category to £2bn in the latest year [NIQ 52 w/e 22 February 2025], although Warburtons has impressively defied those category dynamics thanks to constant innovation and diversifying into new areas.
With this as the backdrop, what does Boparan see in Roberts?
Big time BPO
BPO started life as Boparan’s private family office and a home for some of his more diverse assets outside the core poultry and food holdings that made up 2 Sisters Food Group, such as restaurant chains Carluccio’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Giraffe, as well as property.
But in recent years BPO has swelled dramatically in size as Boparan struck deal after deal. Poultry assets Bernard Matthews and Banham have been added to the mix.
The Roberts deal begins to make more sense when taking into account acquisitions done by BPO in 2023.
The 2 Sisters bakery division, including Holland’s Pies, Portumna and Gunstones, which supplies M&S with hot cross buns, was scooped up when an outside buyer for the non-core assets couldn’t be found. And the Elkes biscuit factory was also bought from 2 Sisters.
An insolvency source anticipates the Roberts bread business will be merged with Gunstones and the biscuit site with Elkes.
More recently, BPO moved for the European 2 Sisters poultry business and joint venture poultry farming operation Hook 2 Sisters, giving the office a fully integrated poultry supply chain.
The astounding upshot is that BPO is today worth more than 2 Sisters, with revenues understood to be racing towards £4bn.
A source close to Boparan explained the BPO long-term strategy was to create a truly private company free from the shackles of the City and bondholders.
2 Sisters has been weighed down by a mountain of debt and obligations to its bondholders for years. At one point, the debt pile stacked up to more than £1bn. That is down to around £300m today and is expected to be paid off in full in the next few years.
While BPO has significant bank borrowings of more than £300m, the debt is of the traditional kind and does not come with the same baggage and monitoring as when selling bonds on the public market.
The source describes the Boparan vision as “one team, one dream”, with the BPO owning a huge sprawling empire all to be operated from one big hub in Birmingham as 2 Sisters is eventually subsumed into the firm.
‘Addicted to deals’
Bakery was not likely to be a priority for BPO, but a City source adds that Boparan is addicted to deals. “He is always on the sniff and can’t keep his fingers out. He just loves deals,” he says.
One highly speculative guess at BPO’s future ambitions for Roberts can be gleaned from the fact the office also owns a regional housebuilding business called Elan Homes in Cheshire, where Roberts is also based.
The insolvency source says the Northwich bread factory, and the surrounding land, is worth “a shitload of money” when viewed for its redevelopment potential. He also notes that the plant and machinery inside the factory is all new, paid for by the £20m insurance payout Roberts received in the wake of the 2023 fire. “The price in a pre-pack deal, for all that new kit, will mean Boparan has got a cracking deal,” he adds.
The source close to Boparan reckons if that really is the long-term strategy, it won’t happen for a few years at least.
“Boparan likes to play 3D chess and is always five moves ahead, but he never does anything quickly. In the short term, the focus will be on stabilising the Roberts business.”
What now for Roberts?
The other big question thrown up by the rescue deal is: what went wrong at Roberts? Can all its troubles really be traced back to a devastating fire combined with structural challenges in the sliced bread market?
Clearly, losing about two-thirds of its volumes following the fire is an enormous hurdle to overcome, with many customers seeking out new suppliers while Roberts rebuilt.
However, one bakery source says the Roberts family and the management team always had a habit of making bad decisions and the overall dynamic at the business was complicated.
“The insurance money from the fire should have led to a turnaround, but business never picked up,” he says.
It is unclear who has been running the Roberts business in recent months as Companies House filings showed MD Julia Banton, CFO Graham Melia and finance director Steve Moon were terminated as directors on 2 July, 1 May and 26 August respectively. CEO Bill Thurston also left the group in January this year.
Clearly, this upheaval will not have helped a business desperately trying to stay afloat.
Roberts stands in stark contrast to Welsh family business Village Bakery, which underwent a remarkable turnaround following a fire in 2019 that destroyed a third of its production capacity. Last year, Village was sold by its PE backers Limerston Capital to French bakery group Menissez for a healthy multiple.
The focus for Roberts is stabilising under the new ownership of BPO. For the time being, Boparan can bask in the glow of the rescue deal, providing security for the 400-plus staff. However, the bakery’s long-term future still has a potential question mark hanging over it.
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