McBride has informed all its customers of a temporary rise in prices to recover higher costs from the Iran war, it said in an update attached to notice of its acquisition of French dishwasher tab maker Eurotab.
The note to investors explained that while the war in the Middle East had until recently had “a relatively small impact” limited to haulage, “those conditions have started to change”.
It said the most heavily impacted chemical and packaging manufacturers have now put up prices as both raw petrochemical feedstocks and energy costs rise.
“As a result, the Group will see elevated input costs in April and expects further increases in the near future. Consequently, the Group has already informed all customers about temporary price adjustments, or surcharges to current pricing, to recover these higher, beyond our control, cost impacts from the Middle East conflict.”
Read more: Iran war fuel price spike ‘will filter into food prices soon’, hauliers warn
The price rises made McBride only the second major supplier in the UK known to have put up prices because of the conflict, following Princes’ minimum 5% price hike for certain customers.
News of the hike was attached to McBride’s announcement of a €40m deal to buy a major French cleaning tablet manufacturer.
McBride’s Unit Dosing division has agreed to buy French cleaning tablet manufacturer Eurotab, significantly boosting its capacity.
Eurotab is a major private label and contract manufacturing producer of dishwasher tabs, moisture absorbing tablets and disinfecting bleach tablets, turning over €65m in revenue.
Largely selling into Europe from its two factories in France, the business has a smaller wing supplying the Turkish market from a site near Istanbul, which would give McBride access to entirely new markets once developed further.
McBride said the transaction, set to close after June 2026, would help “address capacity restraints” in McBride’s Unit Dosing division, unlocking future growth.
“The proposed acquisition of Eurotab Group represents an attractive strategic opportunity and is aligned with our growth strategy,” McBride CEO Chris Smith told investors in a pre-Easter market update that also warned of higher input costs resulting from the Iran war.
Explaining that the purchase would bring “meaningful scale” to the group and reinforce the Unit Dosing division’s position in Europe, Smith added it would broaden the company’s product portfolio, bring in new customers, and strengthen existing relationships with retailers.
“We expect the acquisition to be immediately earnings accretive from completion and to deliver meaningful synergies,” Smith said.
“The proposed acquisition will be funded from existing facilities and will have no impact on our share buyback programme. The Board continues to believe that McBride’s market capitalisation remains significantly undervalued and this proposed acquisition, along with the ongoing buyback, reflects our confidence in the long-term value of the business.”
The acquisition will add around 0.5% to the group’s EBITDA margin.
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