Intersnack UK's new managing director eyeing growth through acquisitions

Richard Robinson, the new boss of the North East's biggest snack company has plans to increase its sales from less than £80m to £250m in the next five years.

Robinson, who has just taken over the job of Intersnack UK’s managing director, has big plans for the County Durham company.

The business, which employs 400 people processing nuts and making snacks including pretzels, has seen its revenues grow by around 80% since 2009 to £78.4m after a series of takeovers. It now plans a further burst of acquisition activity.

Robinson said: “Some of our growth will be organic but we have had a big expansion over the last couple of years and I want to increase at the same rate over the next three to five years.”

He said that the market for products including Penn State pretzels is expected to double and he is planning to diversify ranges such as the Pom-Bears – teddy-shaped savoury snacks for children.

While the £2.4bn snack market is dominated by companies including McCoys and Phileas Fogg, which began life in Consett in 1982, there is still around a third which is split between scores of smaller firms.

Robinson said: “There is a huge market out there and a lot of small companies which could grow much bigger if they were operated by a larger company like Intersnack.

“If you are a niche company you cannot achieve the growth you aspire to unless you are a strong scaleable player with the power to buy in large quantities.”

“This is a fragmented market and we have the ability to take over smaller businesses and grow them very strongly.”