Frosta AG – Defining their own Category the Hard Way
Disclaimer: This is not Investment advice. The stock discussed is very illiquid and trades at the unregulated market (Freiverkehr). If you want to buy this stock, work very carefully with strict limits. The author owns the stock and might buy/sell it without giving prior notice. And as always: PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH !!
After having two (relatively) exciting stocks in the last two weeks with Rocket Internet and Innoscripta, I decided to tune down the exitement a little bit and focus on a very boring, family run German small cap this time. In order to not fall asleep, you might want to listen to the Soundtrack while reading:
Elevator Pitch:
This write-up is special in two ways. For one, I have privately bought the stock already a few months ago. Secondly, I base this write-up on another write-up from my friend Jon from abilitato.de. So please read that one before you read my “mini-writeup” where I only focus on a few specific aspects.
In a nutshell, Frosta is a boring, under-the-rader German family owned and run frozen Food company that does not do a lot of investor relations but runs a very convincing strategy focusing on additive-free ready made frozen meals. Inventing this category more than 20 years ago, the main Frosta brand is now growing with solid “mid teens” percentage rates p.a., has succesfully managed to enter and grow in neighbouring countries and with profitability that is steadily increasing. For the quality of the company and the potential growth prospects, the stock is still relatively cheap in my opinion at around 12×2025 P/E (ex net cash).
Here ist the write-up. Best read it after having a decent “Chicken Paella” from Frosta 😉
value and opportunity 
Thank you for the writeup… always interesting, I specially liked the comparison with Nomad Foods.
I own Frosta since something like 12 years (bought in the 20 Euro area), when I bought a basket of food companies and Frosta was the only food company I did not sell afterwards. I bought more about a year ago around 60-70 Eur and it has become my largest position after Berkshire. Which is kind of crazy considering the low liquidity, but until now it has worked out nicely for me. I hope, it stays that way and I am really looking forward to the report on Thursday, 12th. I even contacted IR ar Frosta and asked them to distribute the Information beforehand, because it is unfair in my opinion, that some journalists get the information before the rest of us. Unfortunately they didn’t respond to my request.
I also really like the Frosta food and I also think they nailed it with their approach.
One thing on the negative side: last year Frosta had horrible results in a test comparing frozen spinach…
https://www.oekotest.de/essen-trinken/Ungenuegend-TK-Rahmspinate-von-Frosta-und-Penny-sind-Testverlierer-_15659_1.html
For me this was really shocking and this should not have happened to a company riding the ‘healthy food’-wave, where the customer trust is probably their biggest asset.
Let’s really hope, this was a one time Thing.