Rebranded Bakery St Pierre Groupe Secures GBP6.7m Investment

St Pierre Groupe, which was recently rebranded from Carrs Foods the international branded bakery business, has secured an investment of GBP6.7m from BGF and partner Lloyds Bank, facilitated by Grant Thornton.

At the same time, it has announced the appointment of David Milner, former CEO of Tyrrells, who comes on board as Non-Executive Chairman.

The investment in the bakery group, which includes brands, St Pierre, Baker Street and Paul Hollywood, is to accelerate international growth as well as investing behind digital channels to enable more direct and closer communication with consumers.

Originally established in 1986 as part of a large European bakery group, Carrs Foods was rebranded to St Pierre Groupe in March 2019.  With turnover rising from GBP16m in 2010 to GBP69m in 2018, St Pierre Groupe is forecast to double its turnover in the next three years to GBP150m by 2022. The company’s products are currently stocked in 20,000 stores worldwide, with 60% of its distribution in the US.

The appointment of David Milner, who took Tyrrells, a quintessential English snack brand, and made it an international success that changed hands in 2016 for GBP300m, equips St Pierre Groupe with additional experience and expertise to expand the global reach of its portfolio. The investment also paves the way for its ambitious growth strategy, enabling it to increase its penetration in existing markets and introduce new product development.

Jeremy Gilboy (pictured), Founder, St Pierre Groupe, says: “Both the new investment and the appointment of a Chairman of David’s stature, gives us great opportunity to meet our targets and continue growing at a significant pace. We’ve worked hard to be where we are today, having grown from being a British family-run company into a fast-growing global bakery business”.

David Milner, Non-Executive Chairman, St Pierre Groupe, says: “I am thrilled to be part of the St Pierre Groupe journey. I recognize many similarities in its working practices with those we adopted at Tyrrells. Here at St Pierre Groupe, we have a quality product in a market desperate for supply. The company’s growth in the past decade has been genuinely exciting and the international expansion and new product development give us huge scope to go to the next level.”