Charlie Bigham’s has sold the upmarket frozen ready meal maker ByRuby back to its founder to focus on the continued growth of the flagship brand.
Milly Bagot, who founded ByRuby with Leiths-trained chef Ruby Bell in 2017, bought the brand back this month for an undisclosed sum, newly filed accounts for Charlie Bigham’s revealed.
Bigham’s said the move aligned with its strategic priorities and focus on core operations, while the sale landed the parent with impairment costs of about £2.1m as it wrote off value related to the ByRuby business.
Bagot has continued to run ByRuby since Bigham’s acquired the company in 2022.
“While the frozen food brand ByRuby continues to develop, we believe we will make more progress by single-mindedly focusing on the Charlie Bigham’s brand – which has such huge potential ahead,” CEO Patrick Cairns said.
Bigham’s continued to grow sales, volumes and profits in the year to 31 August 2025 as the group expanded and broadened its offering, deepened distribution with the likes of Tesco, and prioritised sustainability gains.
Revenues increased 7% to £154m as volumes rose 5%, but the growth rate has steadily slowed over the past five years as the business matured.
Continued advertising investment helped bring new consumers to the brand, alongside increased store presence in national grocery chains, with fully branded bays launched in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.
Recipes have also been redeveloped to ensure quality remained high and a new Brasserie range was introduced in October 2025, offering restaurant-worthy dishes such as Beef Wellington and Coq au Vin for between £16.95 and £29.95.
“This was a solid year of progress, with not only volume and value growth but sustainable improvements to our business,” Cairns said.
“We are delighted our food is enjoyed by a record number of people and their assessment of our quality is better than ever.”
Gross margins at the business slipped by 0.3% to 22% on the back of increased promotional activity and inflation. But despite significant pressure from increased labour costs and packaging taxes, EBITDA jumped by £1.4m to £14.1m and pre-tax profits were up 14% to £8.7m.
Improvements to the operational efficiency of the manufacturing sites contributed to more than £2m in costs savings, helping protect margins.
Bigham’s has now hit its target of no longer producing any edible food waste across its factories, a first in UK manufacturing.
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