Storck to sign branded cough sweets deal
according to an unconfirmed report in the Financial Times
Deutschland - something which will allow it to extend its lead
in the competitive sugar-based confectionery market.
Storck has submitted an application to the Bundeskartellamt (the German competition office) to acquire Atemgold and Rachengold, two of the cough sweet brands of compatriot confectioner Ragold.
And although no financial details of the transaction have been disclosed (both firms have declined to comment), it is understood that the acquisition agreement will not involve the exchange of any of Atemgold and Rachengold's production facilities or stocks.
Storck is Germany's largest manufacturer of sugar confectionery with an annual turnover of €1.2 billion and it currently posseses an estimated 10 per cent share of the overall German confectionery market.
Its best-selling brands include Werther's Original, Merci Schokolade and Toffifee.
According to industry analysts Euromonitor International, the German confectionery market was worth an estimated €7.8 billion in 2003 - of which the chocolate-based confectionery sector accounted for around 70 per cent of this figure (Ferrero is the market leader).
But despite an overall downturn in the German confectionery sector, sugar-based confectionery - particularly the categories of fruit-cream flavoured boiled sweets, gums, jellies and liquorice - has largely managed to avoid the sales-cooling effects of a Europe-wide drive to combat obesity.
Conversely, chocolate value sales declined by around 1 per cent during 2004 to €5.36 billion, while volume sales fell 3 per cent to 684,000 tonnes.
