Apetit expands to Sweden by acquiring frozen pea producer Foodhills

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 10/9/2025 at 9:37 am EET.

Apetit announced this morning that it has signed an agreement with the owners of Foodhills AB, according to which Apetit will acquire 100% of Foodhills' shares. Foodhills is Sweden's largest frozen pea grower and producer.

The nominal transaction price is SEK 100, but Apetit will pay off the acquired company's debts as part of the arrangement, estimated at 20-30 MSEK (~2-3 MEUR). Thus, the cash flow effect of the purchase price is low. The transaction is expected to close by November 30, 2025, at the latest. The completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the Swedish ISP (Inspektionen för strategiska produkter) authority.

Foodhills' revenue in 2024 was 167.8 MSEK and its EBIT was a loss of -54.7 MSEK. Foodhills will be reported as part of Apetit's Food Solutions business segment starting from the completion of the transaction. Apetit estimates that the acquisition will increase Food Solutions' revenue by approximately 20%. According to the company, the earnings impact is, however, neutral or slightly negative in the short term, but in the longer term, the impact is estimated to be slightly positive.

In our view, the international acquisition slightly increases Apetit's risk profile, although the target is relatively small in terms of the transaction price. On the other hand, if the unprofitable business can be turned profitable, we believe the arrangement has value creation potential. Foodhills has also invested over 200 MSEK in its Bjuv production facility since 2018, so the amount paid by Apetit is low in comparison. From a balance sheet perspective, this also creates potential for value creation. On the other hand, there is no certainty about Foodhills' earnings turnaround at this stage. We will therefore examine the acquisition in more detail and update our forecasts in the near future.