Tesco supplier to float stock
Grocery wholesaler Blueheath is to float on the London stock market in a move that will value it at around £55m (€83m), it emerged today.
Blueheath, which supplies produce to convenience stores across the UK, hopes its AIM listing will help build the business and boost its buying power.
The company, based in Islington, north London, employs 60 staff and counts Oddbins, Texaco, Vue Cinemas and Snack in a Box among its 1,300 customers.
It provides stores with free next-day delivery of fresh produce and applies “supermarket scale” wholesaling to the UK’s rapidly growing £40bn (€60.4bn) convenience store sector.
Chief executive Douglas Gurr said the flotation would provide Blueheath with the funds necessary for expansion.
He said: “We are very excited about the future, the convenience market to convenience stores is growing strongly, and we are the only wholesaler to provide large scale services to the smaller convenience stores.”
Blueheath is thought to be valued at around £40m (€60.4m) and hopes to raise around £15m (€22.6m) through the flotation next month.
As well as its head office in Islington, Blueheath has a depot in Tamworth, near Birmingham. It has a “strong pipeline” of new business, with annual revenues of some £70m (€105.7m).
