News Milk
A-ware makes an acquisition and continues to grow in Belgium
A-ware further strengthens its presence on the Belgian dairy market with the acquisition of family business The Dairy Food Group. This company, which is active in the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Brabant and Antwerp, is purchased from the Nijs family. The product range mainly includes fresh dairy, cottage cheese, whipped cream and desserts.
The takeover still requires formal approval from the European Commission. CEO Jan Anker is happy with the announced acquisition and sees it as a strengthening of the position in the company's second home market. The companies' work areas reinforce each other. From a synergy point of view, there is logic in this step.
€300 million turnover
According to its own website, The Dairy Food Group is a private label producer with approximately 260 dairy farmers and more than 200 million liters of milk. The company has approximately 400 employees and an annual turnover of €2023 million in 300. The milk is collected by the Belgian Milk Company (BMC) and processed at the four other operating companies Limelco, Eurodesserts, Incopack and Incorock. They work from three locations, in Zonhoven, Dilsem-Stokkem and Beringen.
A-ware has made a series of acquisitions in Belgium in recent years. It started in 2015 with the purchase of cream producer La Concorde near Brussels. In 2021, the takeover of FrieslandCampina's milk powder factory in Aalter was completed, after which the company also attracted Belgian dairy farmers for the first time. In 2022, the takeovers of family business Olympia in Herne and the former Hollebeekhoeve, now A-ware Kruibeke, followed.
A-ware Belgium developed its own milk price system for the dairy farmers who supply the factory in Aalter, based on that in the Netherlands. The former Olympia dairy farmers have been supplying A-ware Belgium according to that milk price system since the beginning of 2024. CEO Jan Anker can only say how this will work for the dairy farmers of The Dairy Food Group after approval of the proposed takeover. For the time being, the current payment system will be maintained for them. Any other system will first be discussed with the dairy farmers.
Royal A-ware's relative position on the Belgian market will not change as a result of the new acquisition. The company remains the third largest dairy company, after LDA and Milcobel.
Growth agenda
In 2023, A-ware processed a total of 2,6 billion kilos of milk in the Netherlands and Belgium. Mozzarella production will start in Northern Spain in the course of the following year. A factory that it bought from Danone last year is being converted for this purpose. The recruitment of dairy farmers in Northern Spain will start after the summer. In addition, A-ware developed a hypermodern dairy factory for Cheddar together with SCE Epiim and Interfood in Estonia. In Ireland, the cheese factory Kilkenny Cheese started up in early 2024, in which it invested together with the Irish cooperative Tirlan. It will be officially opened in October.
Klaas van der Horst
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.
