Greencore: the sarnie heads stateside

Greencore, the London-listed, Ireland-based convenience-food producer that makes more than half of the sandwiches sold on Britain’s high streets, is to buy US-based Peacock Foods for $748m.

Greencore, the London-listed, Ireland-based convenience-food producer that makes more than half of the sandwiches sold on Britain's high streets, has agreed to buy US-based Peacock Foods for $748m. The move will quadruple the value of its sales in the US, say Scheherazade Daneshkhu and Lauren Fedor in the FT.

The deal "will transform our US business and add significant scale to our operations", said Patrick Coveney, Greencore's chief executive. The US currently accounts for just 15% of Greencore's sales, with Starbucks and 7-Eleven its two biggest customers. The deal will raise that share to 45%. Peacock makes frozen breakfast sandwiches and fresh prepacked food to go, supplying names such as Kraft Heinz and Dole. It made revenues of $993m in the 12 months to 25 September.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.