Orkla acquires liquorice brand
Lakrisgutta, a liquorice company established in 2009, is being sold to Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Norge, which has strong brands like KiMs, Nidar and Sætre.
Lakrisgutta develops, markets and sells sweets with its own brands and unique flavours. Around 70 per cent of sales come from the grocery trade. In the past few years, the company has established solid market positions in the liquorice and lollipop segments, and is still growing.
“Fersk lakris i metervis” (fresh liquorice by the metre), the Popit lollipop and the newly launched Funky Fudge are Lakrisgutta’s main products. The company is known for its innovative in-store merchandising and untraditional marketing.
“Lakrisgutta offers a kind of ‘market variety’ of liquorice and has created a brand that offers great delight. The owners’ development of the Norwegian market for this type of product is impressive. In this acquisition, we see growth opportunities and the company is a good fit with our positions in the liquorice and confectionery segments,” says Jeanette Hauan Fladby, CEO of Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Norge. She is certain that Orkla can provide specialised expertise and will further develop the concepts to please consumers and customers alike.
“Establishing Lakrisgutta has meant a lot of hard work over several years. The time was now ripe to let someone else take the company a step further. We feel good about the branded consumer goods company Orkla taking over, and are confident that they will continue to build respectfully on what we have created,” says Tobias Martin Karem of Lakrisgutta.
Lakrisgutta will be taken over with accounting effect from 1 October 2015. The company has three employees. The Lakrisgutta founders will provide assistance during a transitional period in order to ensure a smooth handover to the new owner. Details of the company’s integration into Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Norge will be clarified later.
