Dellia Group AS - Can dried mangoes be more addictive than Heroin?

[poutapilvia]

Opening a thread for the Norwegian company Dellia Group ($DELIA).

Dellia is a food company that has been on a very strong upward trajectory in recent years by “disrupting” the dried fruit market. Their flagship product is dried mango pieces, which consumers have compared to heroin in terms of their addictiveness. The very first bite gets the consumer hooked!

The Company

The company has three dried fruit brands. These might be familiar to Finnish consumers, as each is already sold in K- and S-group stores. Most importantly, Sunshine delights:

Secondly, Dippies, which is essentially dried fruit combined with dark chocolate:

Finally, A date with, which consists of dried dates:

The company’s home country is Norway, where it started its business operations. After this, the company expanded to the Nordics, where it has enjoyed great popularity. The company has a double-digit market share in these countries:

In addition to this, the company’s products are already being resold in major European countries. Expansion elsewhere is underway:

Trends

The consumption of hard liquor (Kossu) is decreasing, and especially young people’s understanding of a diverse diet is improving. The food pyramid no longer consists of just traditional sausage and potatoes, and the only alternative for non-alcoholic drinks is no longer the sugar-syrup poison produced by Coca-Cola.

The popularity of relatively healthier foods is growing, and this is reflected, for example, in the popularity of sugar-free sodas and, in Dellia’s case, dried fruits. The company’s products essentially compete in the following categories:

1. Snacks
2. Treats

In the beginning, I said the company is “disrupting” the dried fruit market. By this, I meant that in the old days, nut-and-raisin mixes mostly belonged to the diets of athletes and weight watchers—because who in their right mind wants to eat unsalted nuts instead of a candy bar or yogurt? How many of us drool over dried banana slices?

The company is one of the pioneers in the industry that figured out how to offer dried fruits in a new form: not completely dry, but at the same time slightly sweetened. The result is a product that is suitable both as a snack and for a small sweet craving. However, the product is healthier than a bag of candy, but less boring than a raw walnut.

If we examine the company’s main product, dried mangos, according to Google Trends, its global popularity is just continuing to increase

This is also reflected in the figures:

Business Operations

The company’s revenue has multiplied over the past few years:

The company is also expected to grow strongly this year. In the last earnings release, the CEO prematurely stated that “the company’s revenue (2026Q1) exceeded the revenue of the comparison period already during the first two months.” In other words, +50% growth figures will be reported for the upcoming quarter. We’ve been blasting at an even faster pace in recent quarters, meaning growth is slowing down slightly:

Most importantly, the revenue growth comes through that famous volume growth:

And this is reflected in the margins and capital return metrics. ROC +50% and the bottom line is scaling:

The only hiccup in the gross margin was last quarter’s write-down when the company switched away from an Iranian date supplier!

An example of the gross margin: If you buy a 100g bag of dried mangos from the store, there are ~10 slices of mango inside. To put it bluntly, making one bag requires one whole mango.

This same bag is then sold in Finland for €2–3, which is a price many times higher than what growing mangoes in Asia requires! In addition to this, the company operates in the attractive dry food market, where waste plays a much smaller role compared to fresh food. Dried fruit likely remains usable for months!

Valuation

So, a strongly growing market leader with a large TAM. What’s the valuation like? Not impossible given these track records.

LTM P/E ~33 and EV/S ~3.1

With this year’s forecasts, the P/E would be ~15, and for next year <10. The figures are probably quite good guesses considering that adj. EBIT grew +500% last year These are, however, the guesses of “slick-haired” analysts, and in my opinion, they aren’t fully relevant here. What’s more relevant is the following:

Investment Thesis

It goes without saying that there are huge opportunities in the food industry. If you happen to invent a winning product, the runway is practically the whole planet with the help of redistributors. Examples of this are classic beverage players, Coca-Cola and Monster, both of which are likely among the best-performing stocks of all time. Products are initially sold locally until they eventually expand country by country into a global player.

Dellia is the market leader in its niche in the Nordics. The new product has received a good reception, and next, we’ll see if there is demand for the product outside the Nordics as well. As long as organic growth remains and, for example, Google Trends point “up and to the right,” the company is doing well.

In my own sick way, I see the company as a “story stock”! You just have to trust the company’s figures until proven otherwise. The company’s industry is traditional in the sense that if revenue grows, the profit should follow. At the same time, the company operates in a tough industry: everyone has an opinion on food! This thread will also attract investors who don’t like the company’s products and want to share their opinion. Anyone investing in the stock must withstand a lot of noise and opinions!

Risks

The biggest problem in food is competition, competition, and once again, competition. Growing and drying mangoes isn’t rocket science, and no ASML-level moats can be achieved in the industry.

However, a psychological factor that shouldn’t be underestimated is the brand: consumers like familiar and safe brands.

Even though hundreds of studies have shown that a Coca-Cola buyer can’t distinguish the product from competitors’ products in a blind test, the company has still grown for a century straight. Perhaps the most important thing is to be either 1) a pioneer (so-called first mover advantage), or 2) have the best price-quality ratio. When the first is achieved, there’s a good chance for the second. Although Dellia’s products are a bit pricey, I don’t think they are outrageously expensive.

I’ve tasted the dried mangos of a couple of competitors, and in my (biased subjective) opinion, they were worse than Dellia’s equivalents.

Closing Words:

Investing in food companies is simple in itself. All you have to do is march to the nearest store and buy the products to try. If you like the product, others likely will too. If you ask a few friends for their opinion on the product, you’ll get a better sample size. After this exercise, each of us can estimate the company’s growth runway. Me and ~10 of my friends (research sample) love these dried mangos.

What is the forum’s opinion?

Investors

[Mzazz]

I believe the company in question has already built its brand well. It will surely be bought out or the company will continue its growth. I haven’t eaten dried mango for a couple of years because I’ve always found it quite underwhelming, but nowadays I go through 2-3 bags a week at the office

I’ll have to take a slice for my portfolio as well.

[Pohjolan_Eka]

Completely agree. Absolutely incredibly good and addictive products, even though at first I thought that a hardened value investor like me wouldn’t even dare to buy such expensive, upper-middle-class delicacies. Well, I bought them on offer once and I still crave them every time I go to the store. My inner Peter Lynch says that this must be a good investment, as the products are exceptionally excellent, even though the company operates in such a pariah food sector.

Now if only this Iran oil crisis would raise transport costs to the max and cause a temporary share price drop and buying opportunity, then I’d definitely be in

[JP199]

An interesting opening, and I think the products are really good too! Dellia apparently ensured that the supply chain won’t be a bottleneck by acquiring its strategically most important supplier, Kirirom from Cambodia, in December. Valuation EV approx. 36 million USD.

60% of the volumes from the Kirirom factory go to Dellia and the rest is contract manufacturing for international giants, including the Kirkland brand for Costco.

Dellia Group ASA - Acquisition of Kirirom Food Production and contemplated...

[Matkalle]

I’ve been in since the IPO and added a bit to my position early on. Mind you, lately I’ve been considering selling, even though “my own mangoes” do taste good.

[JP199]

Here was another good slide regarding the production capacity after the acquisition. The capacity of the acquired factory is 12,000 tons of mango, which equals 120 million of those familiar 100-gram pouches

Only 4,500 tons of the factory’s capacity is currently utilized by Dellia. The rest is available or used for contract manufacturing. If the factory’s full 12,000-ton capacity were harnessed to manufacture Dellia’s current product portfolio, it would, according to the company, be sufficient for a revenue of approximately 2.4 billion Norwegian kroner Additionally, there is apparently plenty of space on the acquired site to expand production even further in the future. From what I understand, the company now has, for the first time in terms of production capacity, the opportunity to properly invest in expanding outside the Nordic countries.

[Dollarijanis]

These products are indeed outrageously delicious, but could their popularity fade as it gradually dawns on people that excessive sugar, even in this form, doesn’t exactly promote health and weight management?

[Mzazz]

Maybe at some point. I personally believe that a “health wave” is still coming and that the company in question is in a strong position with its products (in the Nordics). A quick look shows there’s about 3.5% added sugar. 96% seems to be mango; I’m not exactly a mango scientist, but I’d wager they have more vitamins and other beneficial substances than some candy mass

In terms of both taste and texture, they are much fresher and “nicer” compared to many other snacks. In other words, the vibe of these is much fresher than many other treats. NOCCO or Celsius probably aren’t exactly at the healthiest end of the spectrum either, but quite reasonable businesses have been built around them through healthy branding

[JP199]

It’s impossible to predict consumer preferences It’s hitting the spot for now, until proven otherwise.

It will be interesting to see how the company changes when, through that large deal, its own factory and land areas, etc., are added to the balance sheet. It will likely continue to require capital in the future.

Additionally, this is probably not a risk-free move, as they are buying a business in Cambodia that is massive relative to the size of the company Just to correct my previous messages, the deal was announced in December and completion is in Q2/26, if everything goes as planned and certain conditions related to the deal are met.

[Pohjolan_Eka]

Specifically, these dried mangoes seem to be out of stock or running low in many stores in Finland as well. Other products from the company are much better stocked on the shelves, and at least to my taste, the dried peaches, for example, are too sugary. The dried dates were very delicious, so they are also worth trying.

In terms of product development for dried fruit, we are still in the very early stages, so it is easy to imagine the current market growing 1,000x larger over time if market share is taken from candy and other traditional confectionery products. The biggest frustration regarding the company is likely the requirement from the Norwegians to distribute half of the profit as dividends, but perhaps it has a certain steering effect, ensuring that management does not pursue market share at any cost when they also have to consider profitability.

[Pohjolan_Eka]

I have personally always belonged to the group of fruit lovers and, on the other hand, hated dried fruits, because the best thing about fruit is that juicy sweetness, and dried fruits are always either drenched in sugar or leathery, tasteless runts. And that makes sense, because dried fruits (and juices) have traditionally been made from second-quality leftovers to reduce waste.

Dellian’s mangoes were my first encounter with dried fruit where it felt like the company had started manufacturing the product with a “dried fruit first” approach using the best possible raw materials. Even though I think the products are still slightly over-sweetened, their taste genuinely competes with other treats. One no longer has to settle for the idea that a healthier alternative is automatically worse, and the company’s rocket-like growth cannot be a coincidence.

Taking over the Nordic markets and the mango factory in Cambodia are a good start, but the products still have enormous untapped potential to expand elsewhere in Europe and into new products (for example, dried papayas). I am certain there will be more vertical integration of the supply chain ahead, and once they gain more experience running that mango factory, I see it as a clear move for the company to also buy their own factories for other fruit products to bring the supply chains entirely into their own hands. With these growth figures, it is very easy to calculate an investor making big returns, unless a specific risk materializes, for example, at the company’s mango factory.

[JP199]

Regarding the sugaring, what personally annoys me is that it negates one significant benefit of fruit snacks: when I eat fruit as is, without any processing, I can eat them pretty much without worry until I feel full to get the right amount of energy. It is very difficult to overeat whole fruits, as you simply feel satiated when the hunger response works optimally with completely unprocessed food. Just try to get fat by binging on nothing but fruit or other unprocessed food; it’s not easy

Then again, it’s easy to mindlessly consume half of your daily energy requirement with some highly processed fluff. In Dellia’s products, at least for me, the sugaring makes me want to eat more and more, even though the total extra energy wouldn’t be mind-blowingly high since the product is still mostly just fruit. But surely everyone agrees on which one is easier to overconsume energy-wise if you have a bucket of Dellia’s dried sugared products in front of you versus a bucket of real, completely unprocessed fruit with all its fluids.

Anyway, this doesn’t have much to do with the investment case, as the world runs on processed food regardless, and these Dellia products are a significantly better option for the vast majority of people than many other more heavily processed “healthy” snacks. Not to mention if they are used to replace actual treats like chocolate, chips, candy, etc.

Acquiring the mango factory was admittedly a strong power move to better manage production/supply chain risks. It would be unfortunate to rely on an external supplier when production needs to be scaled for the conquest of Europe. The deal structure also seemed sensible for both parties, as the seller becomes a major shareholder in Dellia through the transaction, aligning incentives for conquering the next markets together.

Dellia has certainly hammered its brand into the minds of consumers in the Nordics, and many pick up that same familiar bag from the store shelf day after day, accustomed to the product quality. Now they just need to do the same in as many markets as possible before the brutal competition typical of the food industry intensifies and someone else gets there first.

Costco, by the way, apparently has its own dried and sugared mangoes manufactured at that same mango factory. One would think that in many markets, consumers have already tasted something similar, and surely Dellia’s story hasn’t gone unnoticed by industry players.

A very interesting and potential growth story despite these risks, then!

[Maikki1]

Our young competitive athletes have been using dried mangoes etc. It’s a great addition to their snacks and definitely hits the spot even when nothing else appeals. I’ll have to look into the company, maybe it could be a fresh “fruit” for my own portfolio.

Edit. typos

[poutapilvia]

An active discussion has started in the thread - that’s good.

By the way, the company recently released its annual report. Nothing fundamentally new that couldn’t have already been found in the solid quarterly reports.

As @Pohjolan_Eka mentioned in another thread, Aaron Kaartinen was a guest on Mikko Jylhä’s latest Pörssipodi. They partly discussed Dellia, which I believe was Aaron’s largest investment.

Aaron’s thesis is very similar to mine: the product is proven to be good, now we just see how big it can grow before competition squeezes the ROI down. So far, Dellia’s customers have remained brand loyal, as seen in the investor materials:

Currently in Finland, we are in a situation where both the K and S groups have started offering dried mangoes as their own private labels:

https://www.k-ruoka.fi/kauppa/tuote/pirkka-pehmea-mango-100g-6410405357809

Coop kuivattu mango 100 g | S-kaupat ruoan verkkokauppa

(I am aware that Coop is not technically the S group’s private label, but in my eyes, it’s equivalent)

So, competition is tightening. The next question is, when will we see dried mangoes at IKEA?

In the spirit of Peter Lynch, I went and bought a bag of those Coop dried mangoes, and it will definitely be the last time weird withered, leathery, and dry pieces. Unless the recipes are updated, Dellia’s superiority remains for now. Based on my own experience, the ranking of mangoes is:

Dellia > Dave&Jons > Seeberger > Coop

In this picture, on the left is the Dave&Jons mango, which in my opinion is closest to Dellia’s product. On the right is that Coop atrocity, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

[JP199]

I just did some similar “Lynching” (Peter Lynch style analysis) and reached the exact same conclusions I am certainly biased in my opinion on this, as are likely others in this thread.

The manufacturing process, including raw materials and quality control, is currently a genuine competitive advantage, which was further strengthened by acquiring their own factory/plantations. They use the best possible raw materials and production is handled manually by hand. This isn’t the easiest or fastest thing to copy, which provides a bit of a moat against the inevitably increasing competition.

This company video illustrates the manufacturing process and quality control quite well, even though these are always polished marketing videos designed to evoke emotions

Dellia: Kort om bolaget

[Onni_Maiha]

I have also tested products from different manufacturers, and indeed, in terms of quality, I find Dellia’s mangoes and pineapples to be clearly of the highest quality. However, I personally do not like the fact that they add a lot of sugar to the dried fruits. Even Dellia’s pineapple rings are so sickeningly sweet that you can only eat one or two at a time. A significant amount of sugar has also been added to the mangoes. For example, Lidl’s brand Alesto’s dried mangoes are sugar-free and sweet enough as they are. On the other hand, I think competitors dry their mangoes into overly dry, shriveled scraps. I wonder if the heavy sugaring of Dellia’s products might be related to extending shelf life and be a prerequisite for ensuring that more lightly dried fruits stay preserved.

[Pohjolan_Eka]

@poutapilvia

Dellia > Dave&Jons > Seeberger > Coop

I actually ended up with a very similar ranking when I did my own great mango tasting. Dave & Jons is close to Dellia, but contains a higher amount of sugar, and all the others lag far behind. Additionally, the mango slices separate from each other more easily; competitors have a much worse problem where it’s not easy to just take a small strip—instead, the whole bag comes with you when you try to take just one piece.

My own list:

Dellia > Dave&Jons >> Exotic Snacks >> Seeberger > Pirkka > Urtekram >>> Coop

What’s interesting here is that Dellia’s mangoes aren’t even really premium-priced compared to the competition. Much worse dried mangoes are sold in stores for significantly higher prices. It’s a completely crazy situation

I would definitely like to see larger revenue streams and new product launches in other dried fruits as well, so that we could take over a larger share of the shelf space for our own products instead of leaving it to competitors. For now, mangoes are “the thing” and all other products are just side projects:

[Koka]

Encouraged by this thread, I went out and bought my first bag. Having eaten and loved candy for decades, I was deeply skeptical about this… but I was surprised. The contents of that mango bag were shockingly good, and I can definitely imagine many candy-filled treats being replaced by dried fruits in the future If word of this spreads more widely among sweets lovers (with discussion happening elsewhere than just on the Inderes investment forums), the path to success is wide open, and in a big way.

I’ll have to start looking into the company itself more closely from an investment perspective…

[mskomu]

I had to try it for myself as well, and it was the same thing. There would certainly be a marketing opportunity here for many companies, because if someone had hyped product X on this forum, even in the “Coffee Room” (Kahvihuone) thread, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed. But when it’s packaged the other way around—“Great company, just try the product”—the reaction is completely different.