Foresight Group takes majority stake in Strathmore Foods

Foresight Group acquired a majority interest in Strathmore Foods in October 2026, the Nisbet family retaining a minority holding, with director Julie Nisbet and the management team continuing to run the business. Founded in 1973 at Forfar in Angus, Strathmore Foods manufactures chilled and frozen ready meals, cooking and packaging complete dishes that require only reheating. It produces under its own brands, among them McIntosh of Strathmore, and under the labels of the supermarkets it supplies, alongside contract manufacturing for other food companies. It employs more than 115 people and produces fifteen million meals a year. Combining own brands with retailer labels gives the manufacturer two positions on the same shelf, since the supermarket’s own range generates volume at modest margin while the branded product carries a price the retailer cannot set, and the factory producing both spreads its fixed costs across the whole output. British consumption of prepared meals has continued to rise as fewer households cook from raw ingredients, while the manufacturers supplying them operate on narrow margins and must absorb the volatility of ingredient and energy costs between price reviews with the retailers. Foresight Group’s capital was directed at the production capacity, with the intention of growing across retail, catering and contract manufacturing. Spayne Lindsay advised the shareholders of Strathmore Foods.