The APS Group announced their successful acquisition of Wight Salads Ltd (part of Vitacress). The acquisition will create a business with a projected annual turnover of £100M, making them the largest grower and supplier of British tomatoes.
Acquiring WSL has added 66 acres of glasshouses across 5 sites at Arreton on the Isle of Wight with onsite packing facilities, together with a site at Chichester in West Sussex which houses WSL’s head office function, including a 40,000 sq ft packhouse.
The combined group will now total 265 acres with 108 acres of high tech glasshouses dedicated to producing tomatoes, resulting in the APS Group becoming the UK’s largest grower and supplier of British tomatoes providing a significant boost to the British tomato industry. The Portugese and Spanish nurseries are not included in the acquisition, but APS will be marketing the fruit from there as well.
Mark Pearson, Group MD of Cheshire-based APS, said: “The acquisition of WSL is a fantastic opportunity for APS. It allows us to create a British business of real scale, which is good for jobs, our customers and the industry. We can now focus on long term stability and growth, and work with our business partners to provide further investment and infrastructural improvements to the growing facilities which WSL have on the Isle of Wight. This will provide long term security of energy and resource efficiency, and broaden our geographical spread.”
Peter Moug, MD of WSL, said: “This deal between two like- minded innovative businesses enables us to create the leading tomato growing company in the UK. The infrastructure in WSL is to be further improved with the investment in new energy centres and growing facilities. I truly believe that this deal, which secures the long term future of the business, will be positively received by our motivated staff members andby our customers”
Both businesses will continue to focus on their core strengths and customer relationships. This will also ensure job security.
For more information
APS Group
Phil Pearson
Group Development Director
DDI: 01606 839708
T: +44(0)1606 835817
C: 07785 241856