Top story
Vegan DTC meal delivery startup Allplants will kick off a fundraising push next week as it aims to raise up to £20m this year.
The business will hit crowdfunding site Seedrs on Monday 10 February looking to raise £2m in a convertible loan note round, allowing investors to gain a 20% discount on a future Series B raise planned within the next 12 months.
The crowdfunding campaign is part of an initial round of fundraising which will also include cash from VC and angel investors.
This first raise will then “turbocharge” a bigger institutional funding round planned before the end of 2020 to raise between £15m and £20m, co-founder Jonathan ‘JP’ Petrides told The Grocer.
Established in 2016 by former Propercorn brand director Alex Petrides and his brother JP, Allplants has already attracted interest from various VC firms and industry figures – raising £7.5m in 2018 and £800k in 2017.
The business delivers prepared frozen vegan meals such as Caribbean Jackfruit and Cauli Tikka Masala direct to customers.
So far, the business has been exclusively DTC, but it is “openly looking” at the possibility of launching on supermarket shelves.
The additional cash will now be used to fund marketing spend, NPD and continued investment in Allplants’ production kitchen – a newly-opened 20k square feet dedicated plant-based kitchen in London – which will allow the brand to expand both within the UK and abroad.
Read the full story on thegrocer.co.uk/finance later this morning.
Morning update
Also in this week’s edition of The Grocer, fruit and veg giant G’s Group stays in red as costs related to taking control of its US Love Beets business negate rising sales, revenues continue to soar at pet treat manufacturer Armitage Pet Care and more.
Check out thegrocer.co.uk/finance today for all the details.
In the US last night Hain Daniels (HAIN) reported a 5% drop in second quarter net sales to $506.8m.
North America sales in the second quarter were $280.7m, a decrease of 8% compared to the prior year period.
International net sales, including Ella’s Kitchen and Hain Daniels, were down 1% to $226.1m.
Gross margin of 20.8% represented a 180 basis point increase from the prior year period, while EBITDA of $24.9m compared to $12.2m in the prior year period.
US cereals giant and Weetabix owner Post Holdings has reported first quarter net sales of US$1.46bn, an increase of 3.2%, compared to the prior year period.
Gross profit was $471.5m, or 32.4% of net sales, an increase of $45m compared to the prior year period gross profit of $426.5m, or 30.2% of net sales.
Weetabix posted quarterly net sales of $101.5m, which was an increase of 0.6%.
However, Weetabix sales volumes dropped 7.6% in the first quarter, with growth driven by an 8.7% increase in average net pricing.
Weetabix profit was $23.7m, an increase of 25.4% compared to the prior year period. Segment Adjusted EBITDA was $31.9m, an increase of 17.7%.
On the markets this morning, the FTSE 100 has edged back 0.2% to 7,492.3pts.
Early risers include Premier Foods (PFD), up 2.7% to 36.8p, Stock Spirits Group (STCK), up 1.6% to 217.5p and Imperial Brands (IMB), up 0.6% to 1,858.4p.
Fallers include Glanbia (GLB), down 1.8% to €10.11, Pets at Home, down 1.2% to 303p, DS Smith (SMDS), down 1.1% to 366.8p and Marks & Spencer (MKS), down 1.1% to 183.4p.
Yesterday in the City
The FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.3% at 7,504.8pts, continuing the index’s strong run over the past week.
Catering giant Compass Group (CPG) was up 2.7% to 1,958p after posting a 5.2% rise in first quarter revenues, driven by strong performance in North American and new business wins.
Stock Spirits (STCK) was up 1.9% to 943.5p after issuing a trading statement ahead of its AGM, noting that tax rises in Poland and the Czech Republic has boosted first quarter revenues.
Other risers included Pets at Home, up 4.5% to 306.8p, Marks & Spencer (MKS), up 2.6% to 185.4p, Tesco (TSCO), up 2.5% to 254.4p, B&M European Value Retail (BME), up 2% to 371p, Britvic (BVIC), up 1.9% to 943.5p, FeverTree (FEVR), up 1.7% to 1,405.5p and Diageo (DGE), up 1.7% to 3,202p.
Imperial Brands (IMB) recovered 1.4% to 1,847.4p after its sharp share price drop on Wednesday after issuing a profits warning on slowing e-cigarettes growth.
Yesterday’s fallers included McColl’s (MCLS), down 2.9% to 45p, Applegreen (APGN), down 2.7% to 457.5p, Origin Enterprises, down 1.9% to €3.83, PZ Cussons (PZC), down 1.6% to 194.8p and Tate & Lyle (TATE), down 1.6% to 788.4p.
No comments yet