Two companies, which will continue to be managed independently at the beginning, operate under the umbrella of the More than Meals management holding company. Abbelen is a leading German manufacturer that is responsible for producing more than half of all rissoles and ready-made hamburgers for the own-brand ranges of major supermarket and discount chains in Germany and its neighbouring countries. The company runs a state-of-the-art factory in Tönisvorst (North Rhine-Westphalia).

Oscar Mayer is the market-leading manufacturer of chilled ready meals in the United Kingdom, which is by far the biggest and most innovative market for these products in Europe. The company has four sites in England and Wales and produces more than three million chilled ready meals and snacks a week for the own-brand ranges of leading retailers and discount stores.

The companies that belong to the More than Meals group plan to expand the range of innovative products they offer and to make their activities, which are currently focused largely on the individual domestic markets, more international. The focus will also be on cost cutting measures and operational improvements, for example, by automating production processes.

Both Abbelen and Oscar Mayer are expected to realise a solid volume growth with new and existing customers in 2019. However, Abbelen’s profitability was negatively impacted by a sharp increase in pork prices caused by the global consequences of the African swine flu outbreak in Asia. Since the implementation of operational efficiency measures could not fully compensate this market development, EBITDA is expected to fall below previous year’s figure. After having implemented operational improvement measures, Oscar Mayer is expected to increase its earnings compared to the previous year.

Over the coming financial year, Abbelen and Oscar Mayer will be pushing ahead with optimising their operational processes. Furthermore, they will continue to focus on leveraging their cross selling potential as well as promoting a further internationalisation and premiumisation of their product portfolios as the basis for future growth. Following the difficult year 2019, profitability is expected to return to historical levels in 2020.