Bibendum-PLB venture ‘complementary’

“I can’t think of another merger that would work this neatly,” Bibendum MD Michael Saunders told the drinks business today as it was announced that the company has partnered with PLB.

Bibendum will be selling its office in Primrose Hill following the merger with PLB

Saunders said that the two UK-based drinks suppliers had “started talking” in February this year, and it soon became “apparent that there was a good deal to be done”.

Indeed, he stated, “It was startling just how complementary the two business are: our portfolios mesh very well, and our customer bases too.”

Considering the latter issue more closely, he said that PLB’s clients were 90% multiple retailers in the UK, while Bibendum’s were 70% on-trade customers.

He admitted however that a lack of profitability had forced the merger of two businesses.

“We recognised that suppliers will need to consolidate at some stage, so it was a case of do we stay on the sidelines or do something to get us moving in the direction of where the market is going – there is a big lack of profitability out there.”

Saunders was unable to say today whether there would be redundancies at either Bibendum or PLB, but commented, “We will create one hell of a new group but we will have to integrate the teams over the next few months – our target is to build a market-leading group.”

However, Saunders was able to confirm one immediate victim of the new tie-up: Bibendum’s valuable and beautiful office in Primrose Hill where the company has been housed since it was started in 1982.

The space, which is a former garage, is owned outright by the company.

Saunders said to db, “We’ve been here for 32 years, and it is very sad, but I’m searching right now for somewhere big enough to house us, and it will be somewhere bloody cool.”