Cereals firm rides the wellness wave

Wellness Foods, the new owner of upmarket health food brand Dorset Cereals, has promised to pump further investment into the business following last month's takeover.

The money would help the Poundbury-based cereal firm accelerate plans to diversify beyond muesli into products such as porridge and cereal bars, said Wellness, which is on a mission to more than double its turnover from £220M to £500M by 2011.

Wellness, which was launched in 2005, has snapped up a raft of health food firms in the last three years, including: Rowse Honey, Stream Foods (fruit snacks), Grove Fresh (organic fruit juices) and Orchard House Foods (fresh fruit products and juices).

Backed by Lydian Capital, a private equity firm bankrolled by Irish horseracing tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier, Wellness is run by Philip O'Connor and John Toomey, who each have more than 20 years' experience in the food industry.