Bunzl bags three more acquisitions in Brazil, Spain and NZ

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl has acquired three more businesses, one in Brazil focused on industrial personal safety and two elsewhere that distribute cleaning and hygiene supplies.

Together the three new additions add roughly £19m of additional revenues.

Brazil’s Casa do Epi operated from a facility in the southern state of Minas Gerais with an office in São Paulo that sells a range of personal protection equipment to customers in the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors.

In the last calendar year the Brazilian business made revenue of BRL83.2m, which translated at almost £20m at end of year rates but the rapidly declining Brazilian real now only gives £14.4m.

But chief executive Michael Roney said the purchase of Casa do Epi was an important acquisition for the existing safety business in Brazil.

“The business has an excellent reputation and a broad customer base and will strengthen our market position in the state of Minas Gerais.”

The company has also added cleaning and hygiene supplies distributors Cemelim in Barcelona, Spain and ICB Cleaning Supplies in Auckland, New Zealand, which will also add further scale to existing cleaning and hygiene supplies businesses in both countries.

The aggregate annualised revenue of both businesses is approximately £5m.

Other acquisitions so far this year helped the FTSE 100 company lift third-quarter revenue 4% on the same period last year.

Shares in Bunzl were up 0.11% by 0830 GMT on Friday, and roughly flat over the last six months.