Zeus, the Irish-owned global packaging solutions company, has today announced the acquisition of two UK packaging companies, Swanline Group and its sister company BoxMart, in an agreement worth in excess of €25 million. These latest acquisitions mean Zeus is on track to be the largest sole shareholder packaging company in the world by 2023.
Combined, the two companies have a total revenue in excess of €30 million. As well as strengthening Zeus’s position in the retail, food and beverage, and ecommerce packaging sectors, the addition of these two acquisitions will keep Zeus on target to achieve half a billion euro annualised revenue next year. Forecasted annualised revenues for Zeus in 2022 are expected to exceed more than €400 million.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Zeus CEO Keith Ockenden said: “It is a significant day for Zeus as we continue our current investment strategy with the acquisition of two very strong players in the UK packaging sector.
“Swanline Group and BoxMart bring with them long-established customer bases, in-depth knowledge about their respective sectors, and dedicated diverse teams who are committed to serving their customers. As a combined entity, we have enhanced our reach and offering across the UK, with further opportunity to maximise efficiencies across our distribution and supply chains, whilst broadening our product and service offerings to our existing customers.”
Specialist packaging company Swanline Group is the UK’s leading trade-only supplier of paper-based materials, print and conversion services to the packaging and point-of-sale sectors. Established in 2001, Swanline Group is headquartered in Stone, Staffordshire and employs over 150 people. Swanline Group has four purpose-built sites housing large format infrastructure, screen and digital printing and converting operations, as well as extensive warehousing and distribution capabilities.
BoxMart is an award-winning packaging supplier based in Shenstone, Staffordshire, offering UK-made gift, retail and ecommerce packaging. Clients include Lush, Fever Tree and Moet Hennessy. They also have an online store for the purchase of stock packaging products.
Brian O’Sullivan, founder of Zeus said: “Our journey over the years has provided opportunities to strengthen our capability, widen our offering and learn new disciplines. The addition of these businesses into our family will complement the range of solutions we provide our customers, strengthen design, creativity and innovation within packaging and introduce a depth of experience within new sectors.”
In 2021, Mr O’Sullivan was announced as the winner of the Irish EY Entrepreneur of the Year. This week, Mr O’ Sullivan will compete in Monaco from the 8th to the 10th of June for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022.
In May 2022, Zeus acquired Canadian agricultural supply business, Agri-Flex. During the past 9 months Zeus have added a further €75m of revenue through acquisition. Customers of Zeus range across sectors and include ABP, Harrods, Musgrave, Ryanair and McDonalds. Established by Brian O’Sullivan in 1998, Zeus now employs over 870 people worldwide. In 2021, Mr O’Sullivan was announced as the winner of EY Entrepreneur of the Year.
Financial and Tax Due Diligence was provided by GT Ireland. Legal advisors to the Purchaser were TLT LLP.