NewPrinces Group: What the Newlat Acquisition Means for Princes and UK Shoppers [2026]

By Rachel Morris, Industry News Reporter

The press release was meticulously crafted. "Creating one of the leading multi-brand and multi-product food companies in Europe." The kind of language that sounds impressive until you actually parse what it means. When Italian food group Newlat completed its £700 million acquisition of Princes Limited in July 2024, the corporate communications team worked overtime. But beyond the boardroom, what does this deal actually mean for the millions of British shoppers who've been buying Princes tuna and corned beef for generations?

I've been tracking this story since the first rumours surfaced in January 2023—when Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japanese conglomerate that had owned Princes since 1989, quietly hired M&A advisers. The kind of move that says more than any press release ever could. Eighteen months later, one of Britain's most recognisable canned food brands has new Italian owners, a new corporate structure, and ambitions to hit €5 billion in revenue by 2030. Let me walk you through what's actually happening.

Who Owns Princes Now? The Complete Ownership Timeline

Let's start with the basics, because the ownership history of Princes is more convoluted than most consumers realise.

Princes was founded in 1880 as a seafood importing business in Liverpool—a proper British heritage brand, if ever there was one. For over a century, it remained a UK company, building its reputation on quality canned goods. Then came the Mitsubishi era. The Japanese trading giant acquired Princes in 1989, adding it to their vast global portfolio and largely leaving the British operations to run themselves.

That arrangement lasted 35 years. Long enough that most shoppers had forgotten Princes had Japanese owners at all. I'd wager most people assumed it was still British-owned—one of those quiet corporate realities that never quite makes it into the public consciousness.

Then, in May 2024, Mitsubishi announced the sale to Newlat Food S.p.A., an Italian agro-food group with existing operations in pasta, dairy, and baby food. The transaction valued Princes at £700 million—a significant sum, though industry analysts I spoke to suggested Mitsubishi had been hoping for more.

The deal completed in July 2024. By April 2025, Newlat had rebranded itself entirely as "NewPrinces Group"—a move that tells you something about the relative importance of each company in this marriage. And then, in October 2025, came the IPO. NewPrinces listed on the London Stock Exchange, entering the FTSE 250. The Liverpool-founded canned goods brand is now part of a publicly traded European food conglomerate valued at over £1.2 billion.

It's quite the journey from importing fish on the Mersey.

The NewPrinces Group: What Exactly Are We Dealing With?

Here's where the corporate structure gets genuinely interesting. NewPrinces isn't just Princes with a new owner—it's an entirely new entity comprising the old Newlat operations plus Princes Limited as a subsidiary.

The combined group now operates 31 plants across Italy, the UK, Germany, France, Poland, and Mauritius. It employs over 8,800 people. It owns more than 30 brands. And it generated €2.8 billion in revenue in 2024.

To put that in perspective: Princes alone was a major player in UK food retail. Combined with Newlat's existing European footprint—which includes pasta brands, dairy products through Centrale del Latte d'Italia, and the Symington's instant noodles operation in the UK—NewPrinces is now a genuine European food heavyweight.

The Plasmon acquisition in late 2025 added another layer. NewPrinces paid €124.3 million to acquire the Italian baby food brand and several others from Kraft Heinz, including production facilities in Latina that manufacture 1.8 billion biscuits annually. For those keeping score at home, that gives NewPrinces approximately 30% of the Italian baby food market.

What does this mean for British shoppers? I'll get to that. But first, let me tell you about the brands you might not realise are connected to this story.

The Princes Brand Portfolio: More Than Just Tuna

Most UK consumers know Princes for tinned tuna and corned beef. That's fair—those are the flagship products. But the Princes Group portfolio is considerably broader than many shoppers appreciate.

Princes itself offers over 350 products: canned fish (tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, pilchards), canned meat (corned beef, hot dogs, pies), canned fruit and vegetables, sandwich fillings, and ready meals. It's one of the UK's top two canned tuna brands, competing directly with John West for supermarket dominance.

Napolina is also a Princes brand—the Italian-style ingredients range including chopped tomatoes, olive oils, pasta, and pasta sauces that many British households consider a store-cupboard essential. It's a clever piece of brand architecture: Italian credentials for premium positioning, owned by what's now an actual Italian company.

Mazola handles cooking oils—corn oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, and speciality options. Not the most glamorous category, perhaps, but a consistent revenue generator.

There are also brands like Jucee (soft drinks), Crosse & Blackwell (pickles and condiments), and various licensed partnerships. The Liverpool headquarters—still operational in Wisbech—coordinates sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution across this portfolio.

Here's the thing that struck me when researching this piece: most consumers have no idea how consolidated UK food manufacturing has become. Walk down a supermarket aisle, and the impression of choice is somewhat illusory. Behind those different labels, a surprisingly small number of major groups control most of what you're buying.

What's Actually Changing for UK Shoppers?

This is the question I've been asked most often since the acquisition completed. The honest answer? In the short term, probably not much that you'll notice.

The Liverpool operations continue as before. The product ranges remain the same. The supply chains are established and functioning. NewPrinces hasn't announced any immediate plans to discontinue UK product lines or close British facilities.

But I've been covering this industry long enough to know that "no immediate changes" often precedes significant changes a few quarters down the line.

Here's what I'm watching:

Manufacturing consolidation. With 31 plants across Europe, there will inevitably be efficiency reviews. The Wisbech facility employs hundreds of local workers. It would be naive to assume those jobs are guaranteed indefinitely, though equally unfair to suggest they're under immediate threat. I simply don't know—and anyone who claims certainty is either lying or selling something.

Pricing strategy. NewPrinces has stated ambitious revenue targets. €5 billion by 2030 means significant growth. That growth has to come from somewhere—volume increases, market expansion, or yes, price increases. The UK canned goods market is mature. Dramatic volume growth seems unlikely. Draw your own conclusions.

Product range evolution. The Plasmon acquisition signals interest in baby food and speciality categories. Could we see more Italian products appearing under Princes branding? Possibly. The reverse journey—Princes corned beef in Italian supermarkets—seems less likely but not impossible.

Sustainability commitments. This is actually one area where I'd expect continuation rather than change. Princes made significant sustainability pledges under Mitsubishi ownership, including the commitment to 100% MSC-certified sustainable tuna by 2025. NewPrinces has every commercial reason to maintain these commitments—sustainability sells, particularly to younger shoppers.

Princes Tuna Sustainability: The MSC Commitment

Let me expand on that sustainability point, because it's one of the more positive stories in this sector.

Princes committed in 2022 to source and sell 100% of its UK branded tuna from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified sustainable fisheries by the end of 2025. That's 75 million cans—approximately 11,000 tonnes—of MSC-certified tuna annually.

The roadmap was ambitious: 25% by end of 2023, 50% by 2024, 100% by 2025. As I write this in January 2026, that deadline has passed. Industry sources suggest Princes achieved or came very close to the target, though I haven't seen official verification.

MSC certification isn't just marketing—it requires independent assessment across three principles: sustainable fish stocks, minimised environmental impact, and effective fishery management. The blue MSC label you see on some Princes cans represents genuine third-party verification.

Princes also maintains full traceability on their tuna—each can code links back to specific catch certificates showing fishing location, dates, and vessel information. They avoid transshipment at sea (where fish are transferred between boats, making origin harder to verify) and participate in several industry sustainability initiatives including the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation.

Will NewPrinces maintain this commitment? I'd bet yes, simply because unwinding it would be commercially foolish and publicly embarrassing. But corporate commitments have been quietly dropped before when ownership changes. It's worth watching.

The Competitive Landscape: Princes vs John West

No discussion of UK canned fish would be complete without mentioning the long-running rivalry with John West. Interestingly, both brands were founded in Liverpool—perhaps something in the water there suited the seafood trade.

John West is owned by Thai Union, the Thai seafood conglomerate, making this market segment a competition between Italian and Thai corporate interests played out on British supermarket shelves. Neither brand is British-owned anymore, though both maintain British operations and supply chains.

In terms of market share, the two are close competitors. John West arguably has stronger brand recognition in certain categories; Princes has a broader product portfolio. Both have made sustainability commitments. Both are fighting for supermarket shelf space in an environment where own-brand products increasingly dominate.

For shoppers, the practical difference often comes down to price, availability, and minor product formulation preferences. I've interviewed blind taste test participants who swore they could distinguish the brands—then failed to do so consistently. Make of that what you will.

What the Industry Insiders Are Saying

Here's where I should be honest about my limitations. The industry sources I've cultivated over fifteen years of covering this beat have been unusually quiet about the NewPrinces deal. That's not necessarily sinister—it could simply mean there's nothing particularly dramatic happening behind the scenes.

But it could also mean that confidentiality agreements are unusually tight. Or that decisions haven't yet been made about aspects that would normally be settled by now. The uncertainty is itself a data point.

What I have heard—and I should stress these are informal conversations, not formal statements—is that the integration is proceeding more smoothly than some expected. The cultural differences between Italian corporate management and British manufacturing operations haven't created major friction. The Plasmon deal was viewed internally as a signal of ambition rather than financial stress.

One contact, a former Princes employee who left before the acquisition, put it this way: "Mitsubishi were good owners but distant. They let the British team run things. NewPrinces is more hands-on—that's either an opportunity or a problem depending on whether you're the one whose hands are on the wheel."

The Bigger Picture: What This Tells Us About UK Food Manufacturing

Step back from the specific details of the Princes acquisition, and a broader pattern emerges. British food manufacturing is increasingly owned by overseas interests. The brands on our supermarket shelves look familiar—often nostalgic, even—but the corporate structures behind them are international.

Is this good or bad? I've genuinely wrestled with this question.

The optimistic view: international ownership brings investment, expertise, and access to global supply chains. British facilities benefit from being part of larger operations that can weather economic storms. Jobs are protected by being integrated into robust corporate structures.

The pessimistic view: decisions about British factories and British jobs are increasingly made in boardrooms thousands of miles away. When consolidation pressures intensify—and they always do—UK operations are just line items on a spreadsheet, not communities with history.

The realistic view: probably something in between. Corporate ownership is neither inherently good nor bad for workers and consumers. What matters is the specific decisions made by specific people. NewPrinces could be an excellent owner of Princes. Or not. We'll know more in five years than we do today.

What This Means for Your Weekly Shop

Let me bring this back to practical reality. You're standing in a supermarket, looking at a tin of Princes tuna chunks in brine. What should you actually do with the information I've just shared?

First, the product itself hasn't changed. Same tuna, same quality standards, same sustainability commitments. Your lunch will taste the same regardless of whether the ultimate parent company is Japanese, Italian, or Martian.

Second, prices may shift over time. Not necessarily upward—corporate restructuring can create efficiencies as easily as it creates costs. But the ambitious growth targets suggest NewPrinces will be looking for revenue improvements somewhere.

Third, British jobs are involved. If this matters to you when making purchasing decisions, be aware that the Wisbech and Liverpool operations employ local workers. Supporting Princes products supports those jobs—at least for now.

Fourth, alternatives exist. If you're uncomfortable with international ownership in principle, there are smaller British canned fish producers, though typically at higher price points. The choice is yours.

Personally? I'll continue buying Princes products when they represent good value. Brand ownership doesn't change flavour. But I'll also continue watching the corporate developments, because what happens in boardrooms eventually affects what happens on shelves.

Looking Ahead: The NewPrinces Roadmap

The stated goal is €5 billion in revenue by 2030. That's nearly doubling current levels in six years. Aggressive, by any measure.

The strategy appears to involve:

• Further acquisitions (the Plasmon deal suggests this isn't over)
• Expansion in continental European markets
• Premium product development
• Own-brand manufacturing for supermarkets (already a significant part of Princes' business)

Whether they'll hit that target, I genuinely don't know. The European food market is competitive, consumers are price-sensitive, and macroeconomic conditions remain unpredictable. But the ambition is clear.

For British shoppers, the most likely near-term impact is seeing more NewPrinces brands on supermarket shelves—perhaps Italian products that haven't previously had UK distribution. The Liverpool and Wisbech facilities seem secure in the medium term, given their manufacturing capacity and established supply chains.

But this is a story that's still being written. I'll be watching. You probably should too.

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Rachel Morris is Grocefully's Industry News Reporter, covering the UK grocery sector for fifteen years. She remains sceptical of press releases and corporate communications in equal measure. Her inbox remains open to industry insiders who prefer anonymity.