British specialist bakery business Delice de France has been sold to its management by Swiss-Irish group Aryzta for an undisclosed sum.

Delice de France was first acquired by IAWS 20 years ago for €52m.

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IAWS went on to merge with Swiss group Hiestand to form Aryzta in 2008.

The management buyout (MBO) took place early last month and is part of Aryzta’s on-going programme of disposal of non-core assets. Delice de France, which was established in 1984, had at one stage been seen as very complementary to Aryzta’s Cuisine de France business.

The MBO was headed by Delice de France’s chief executive Thierry Cacaly, along with other senior executives including finance director Anthea Chia.

The company is a leading manufacturer and distributor for bakery and savoury products to the food service industry in the UK. It has a broad customer base, ranging from large contract caterers to convenience stores.

Based in Southall, London, it has six additional distribution hubs, in Coleshill, Bellshill, Avonmouth, Kettering, Eastly and Heywood.

Aryzta has been ploughing through a challenging turnaround programme dubbed Project Renew, which includes selling off a number of non-core businesses.

It recently announced a binding offer to sell a majority of its stake in French frozen food supplier Picard for €156m to Invest Group Zouari (IGZ), a Tunisian conglomerate.

Last month Aryzta, which is led by former DAA boss Kevin Toland, reported that it had seen its earnings stabilise in the 12 months to July 31.

The company saw its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increase 1.9pc to €307.5m.

Organic revenue at the group was flat, while total revenue declined 1.5pc to €3.4bn while underlying net profit was €74m.

In North America, underlying EBITDA stabilised and improved – up 9pc to €97.9m – but revenue “challenges remain”, the company said.

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