All Their Biscuits in One Basket
It’s an interesting business, the baking industry. Companies come and go, mergers are mooted – sometimes in vain and often successfully, writes Andre Erasmus. Now, we have a new star in the merger constellation – pladis (yes, with a lower case p).
Constellation? Well, “pladis” is derived from “Pleiades,” the Latin name of a seven-star cluster, which also represents Yildiz Holding’s famous brand Ülker. And it is with pladis that Yildiz hopes to become the star of the global cake, cookie and confectionery market.
Turkish company Yildiz is the largest food company in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and it has, just this year, consolidated its recent acquisitions by bringing together Godiva Chocolatier, United Biscuits, Ulker and DeMet’s Candy Company to form this new global giant.
According to the Financial Times, Britons will have more choice in the biscuit tin if Yildiz succeeds in this ambition. Why? Well, it appears pladis will be a UK-based company and that’s good news for a nation of biscuit lovers.
The company will be based in London and aims for a flotation on the London Stock Exchange in four years’ time, said Ali Ulker, vice-chairman of Yildiz and nephew of Murat Ulker, the confectionery mogul ranked by Forbes magazine as Turkey’s richest man.
Godiva is a leading premium chocolate brand worldwide and has seen sales double since it was taken over by Yildiz in 2007. It joins McVitie’s, a leading biscuit brand with a heritage in the UK and Europe, and Ulker , the leading biscuits and confectionery brand in Turkey and the Middle East in this new USD5.2bn business, clearly making pladis a global leader in the category.
What are the future plans for this giant? The FT reckons Godiva is to enter UK supermarkets for the first time next year in the form of a premium chocolate tablet. It adds that, this year, McVitie’s introduced a new version of the Digestive – Nibbles – which are bags of chocolate-coated balls of digestive biscuit.
And Cem Karaks, CEO for pladis and a senior director at Yildiz, says pladis aims to develop a range of cakes for the UK, its single biggest potential market besides Turkey.
“The UK is an emerging market for us because we are non-existent in cakes and chocolates in the country,” he notes.
Given that health and obesity concerns in the UK have led to the introduction of an upcoming sugar tax on beverages in 2018, Ali Ulker says that the company is mindful of these concerns and is reducing sugar, fat and salt in its products.
He tells the FT: “There are no unhealthy foods but there are unhealthy consumption habits. These days, people sit a lot and should be more active. But there is no need to ban children from eating chocolate — it is a joy of life.”
Is it healthy then, to put all your biscuit hopes in one basket (in this case, a basket called pladis)?
Yildiz seems to think so. Murat Ulker, chairman of Yildiz Holding, says forming pladis is “the first step in realizing the long-term strategy” of Yildiz by bringing together some of the world’s best-loved brands, combining their 350 years of experience to form a new family company.
“We will be a global leader in biscuits and confectionery, and bring ‘bites of happiness’ to every corner of the world.”
Time will tell but, given the strength of these brands, this giant could be around for a long, long time – or I will give up dunking biscuits.
Karakas declares that “as one global family, we can be more agile, allowing us to innovate around our products and develop more brand synergies.” I think he’s right.