Intersnack and Lorenz Snack World agree to an exchange

Snack concerns The Lorenz Bahlsen Snack-World GmbH & Co KG Germany, Neu-Isenburg, and Intersnack Vertriebs GmbH,Cologne,have agreed to an exchange. According to reports Intersnack is to take over the French business division of Lorenz Snack-World. In return, Lorenz Snack-World will take over the Polish subsidiary Polsnack from Intersnack.The arrangement is pending approval from the regulators. This will enable the companies to consolidate their respective operations in France and Poland Brands of both companies currently on sale in Poland and France will continue to be manufactured and distributed under license by the new owner.The agreementwill not affect the competitiveness of either company in Germany or abroad.
In response to fierce competition on the international snack market
The decision was taken in response to fierce competition on the international snack market.The Dutch regulators Nma have just approved the acquisition of the Sara Lee European nut business (incl. Duyvis) by PepsiCo subsidiary Smiths Food Group.This move has enabled the North American concern to significantly extend their already very dominant market position in the Benelux states. In Poland Frito-Lay also strengthened their position by purchasing the company Star Foods. In the UK – at € 4 bn Europe’s biggest snack market – Frito-Lay and their subsidiary Walkers command a 40% market share and are the uncontested market leaders.Frito-Lay also lead markets in Belgium, Spain, Greece and Russia. Alongside Norwegian rivals Orkla PepsiCo are strong on the markets in Baltic states.
Growth all over Europe
According to ACNielsen, sales of salty snacks in 29 European countries totalled just under € 10.4 bn last year, growth of 7%. Almost one quarter was generated by sales of Frito-Lay products. Over 22% was accounted for by sales of private label snacks, which performed very strongly compared with 2004, achieving double digit growth. Private label snacks played a particularly significant role in Germany,accounting for over one third of all sales. Both leading brand manufacturers in Germany also produce private label snacks.Only in Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and France are sales of private label snacks as important, accounting for over 30% of the market. In all other European countries the market share is below 25%, even on less developed eastern European markets.In Poland, for instance,private label sales only account for 10%.