United Biscuits (UB) Holding Limited, a British multinational food manufacturer, has acquired a stake in Nigerian–based biscuit and confectionery maker, A&P Foods (Haansbro).
Although the size of the investment in the Nigerian confectioner was not satated, UB believes that Nigeria has a strong potential to drive the company’s international sales growth. It cited the fact that Mcvitie’s international sales since 2006 have tripled and it now accounts for about a fifth of the company’s total revenue.
According to the UK biscuit maker, it hopes to maintain, and perhaps surpass this growth in future years.
United Biscuit which owns brand such as Jacobs and Mcvitie’s has been operating in Nigeria for a couple of decades. While some of its products are exported from the UK, others are sometimes manufactured locally under a license.
Nigeria, a country of about 170 million people is Africa’s largest populated country and its second largest economy. Although about a 100 million of its population living on less than $2 a day, Nigeria is poised to overtake South Africa as the continents biggest economy in the near future.
Economic growth in the country has been driven by increasing foreign investments in several sectors of the economy.
Nigeria’s economy is set to grow 6.75 percent this year, according to Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Moreso UB plans to expand its business significantly in East Africa and South Africa in future years.
Headquartered in Hayes-England, United Biscuits was formed in 1948 when McVitie & Price merged with MacFarlane Lang.
A&P on the other hand, is part of the Assudamal group which was founded by Assudamal Vaswani in Hong Kong.
