Balai ni Fruitas buys cake shop Sugarhouse

Balai ni Fruitas buys cake shop Sugarhouse

BALAI NI FRUITAS Inc., a listed subsidiary of Fruitas Holdings Inc., has further sweetened its product offerings with the addition of the Sugarhouse brand, a 40-year-old legacy business that specializes in cakes.

Balai on Thursday signed a memorandum of agreement with Golden Spatula Corp. to acquire Sugarhouse and various assets related to the brand, including “intellectual property, technical know-how, delivery, commissary and store equipment.”

The listed company is set to take over the catering business of Sugarhouse once the deal is completed by May 1.

With this transaction, Balai expects to increase its product offerings, tap a wider customer base and expand its production capacity.

“In line with our aim of delivering shareholder value, we are complementing our organic growth with a key acquisition that will allow us to serve more products to more Filipinos,” Lester Yu, Balai president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“We are excited about this new acquisition and believe it will integrate well into our brand lineup. Similar to the past acquisitions of the House of Fruitas, we will invigorate the brand and seek to bring it to new heights,” he added.

The purchase price, which is below 10 percent of Balai’s total assets as of end-2023, will be paid via proceeds from Balai’s initial public offering in 2022, although the value of the latest deal was not immediately disclosed.

The food and beverage firm currently has three active brands — Balai Pandesal, Buko ni Fruitas and Fruitas House of Desserts — and more than 100 stores spread across the brands.

Last week, Balai reported netting P59 million in 2023, up 58 percent from the P37 million recorded a year earlier, with consolidated revenues growing by 57 percent to P535 million from P341 million.

On Thursday, Balai shares were down 4.76 percent at 40 centavos amid a 1.13-percent rise in the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.