Mr Philips and Greencore chief financial officer Catherine Gubbins also said that additional synergies beyond the £80m that the group believes could be extracted from its acquisition of Bakkavor are possible.
Greencore confirmed on Thursday that the terms of the planned takeover of Bakkavor have now been formally agreed by the boards of the two companies.
Irrevocable undertakings representing just over 69pc of shares in Bakkavor have now been received by Greencore in respect of the deal. About 75pc of shares must be voted in favour to push it over the line, which is now a virtual certainty.
Mr Philips said Greencore, known in a previous incarnation as Irish Sugar, will celebrate 100 years in business next year.
Greencore currently generates virtually all its revenue in the UK, and the combined group including Bakkavor will have annual sales of about £4bn, almost all of it also delivered in the UK.
“We’re an Irish business,” said Mr Philips. “We’re an ambitious business. In time, we may look elsewhere for growth opportunities. Being headquartered in Ireland gives you that platform for future growth in other jurisdictions. I don’t see any reason why we would want to change where we are currently headquartered.”
Ms Gubbins said having the group headquarters in Ireland would ease the path for future expansion.
She said it is “absolutely” the case that having the company based in Ireland would make it easier to expand within the European Union, for instance, given that the UK is no longer a member of the trading bloc.
Greencore is targeting half of the projected synergies from the deal being achieved in the first year, 85pc by the second and all by the third year.
“In terms of synergies, we’re looking at at least £80m,” said Mr Philips. “We’re very confident that we can do that. This is a combined business with a £4bn sales base. The first step is to deliver the £80m and then probably re-group and see is there more opportunities. We haven’t put any revenue synergies into our models, so this is cost-driven, but there will in time be lots of other opportunities to go after.”
The bulk of the initial cost savings – about 45pc – are expected to be achieved through the elimination of duplicate organisational functions, such as head office and other senior management roles.
The combined group will have about 30,500 employees, mostly spread across about 35 production sites in the UK. Mr Philips pointed out that Greencore already has a high annual attrition rate of staff, at 20pc, with people constantly moving in and out of the business.
Greencore and Bakkavor both include major retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer and Asda among their customers, but providing different food products.
Greencore generates two-thirds of its revenue from food-to-go products such as sandwiches, sushi and salads, while Bakkavor also makes desserts, pizzas and bread, for instance.
Greencore also reported a strong set of first-half results on Thursday, with its pre-tax profit jumping 82pc to £26.7m.
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