What Finlays Group does

Finlays Group (legal entity James Finlay Limited) is a privately held, London-headquartered B2B supplier of tea, coffee, and botanical ingredients and solutions, founded in 1750 and operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swire Group. The company supplies major global beverage brands, retailers, and foodservice operators across five continents through five regional business units — Finlays Solutions (US-centered global extracts), Finlay Beverages (UK/Europe), Finlays Colombo (Sri Lanka), Finlays MEAC (Middle East, Africa, CIS), and Finlays Argentina — backed by vertically integrated tea farms in Kenya and Argentina, manufacturing and extraction facilities in China, Kenya, the UK, and the US, and aseptic packing capacity acquired via Leahy-IFP (Oct 2025) in Illinois.

The core product portfolio spans liquid coffee extracts and soluble/instant coffee, tea extracts and aroma compounds, caffeine ingredients, black/green/speciality tea, botanicals, decaffeinated products, packing and blending services, and — most recently — patented De-Sugared Fruit Technology sourced via a minority investment in NewTree Fruit Company (Dec 2025). Underlying technology is rooted in physical extraction, blending, decaffeination, and aseptic formulation rather than digital or AI-based systems. Notable technical assets include proprietary aseptic packing capabilities (Leahy-IFP), NewTree's patented De-Sugaring™ process that concentrates fruit nutrients while removing sugars, and farm-to-factory traceability reaching 100% for made tea, 99% for green bean coffee, and 100% for green leaf tea to farmer.

The business model is B2B ingredient supply: revenue is generated through direct enterprise sales teams organized regionally, supported by content marketing via 1750 Magazine and the annual Global Beverage Trend Report, plus participation in industry trade shows. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated via regional offices. Sustainability positioning — SBTi-validated net-zero targets, UN Global Compact membership, Ethical Tea Partnership membership, and EUDR-aligned deforestation-free sourcing — functions as a commercial differentiator rather than a regulatory burden, increasingly required by enterprise beverage customers. The company is currently navigating reputational remediation tied to historical human-rights concerns at its former Kenyan tea operation (now Browns Plantations Kenya, acquired Nov 2023).

Name

Finlays Group

Legal name

James Finlay Limited

Website

https://finlays.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1750

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Finlays Group is a global B2B supplier of tea, coffee, botanical, and fruit-based beverage ingredients founded in 1750, serving major beverage brands, retailers, and foodservice operators across five continents through vertically integrated farming, extraction, and aseptic manufacturing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

B2B Beverage Ingredients

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (31192), Beverage Manufacturing (3121)

SIC

Beverages (2080)

akta.pro primary industry

Powdered Beverage Bases & Concentrates (instant drink mixes, soluble concentrates) (AFAFAGAI)

Keywords

• B2B tea supplier
• Coffee ingredients supply
• Botanical extracts manufacturing
• Beverage ingredient solutions
• Tea coffee processing

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. B2B Ingredient and Solution Sales: Finlays generates revenue by supplying tea, coffee, and botanical ingredients and solutions to beverage brands, retailers, and foodservice operators. Revenue comes from product sales across extracts, leaf tea, coffee, decaffeinated products, and botanicals.
2. Fruit-Based Beverage Manufacturing: Revenue from aseptic packing and formulation services for natural fruit-based beverages through Leahy-IFP, effectively doubling the size of Finlays' North American business.
3. Processing and Blending Services: Revenue from tea packing, tea blending, manufacturing, and extraction services across global facilities including the UK, Kenya, China, and the Americas.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Finlays is a global B2B supplier of tea, coffee, and botanical ingredients and solutions. The company manufactures and supplies extracts (liquid coffee extracts, soluble products, tea extracts and aroma, caffeine), leaf tea (black, green, speciality, botanicals, decaffeinated), coffee (roast, out-of-home, green beans, soluble/instant), and provides tea packing and blending services to major beverage brands, retailers, and foodservice operators worldwide.

Product overview

Finlays Group is a global B2B supplier of tea, coffee, and botanical ingredients and solutions serving major beverage brands, retailers, and foodservice operators worldwide. The company operates as a multi-business portfolio structure consisting of five regional business units: Finlays Solutions (US-centered global extracts), Finlay Beverages (UK), Finlays Colombo (Sri Lanka), Finlays MEAC (Middle East, Africa, CIS), and Finlays Argentina. The core product portfolio includes Extracts (liquid coffee extracts, soluble products, tea extracts, caffeine), Tea (black, green, speciality, botanicals, decaffeinated, packing & blending), and Coffee (roast, out-of-home, green beans, soluble/instant). Recent acquisitions include Leahy-IFP (aseptic fruit beverage packing) and NewTree Fruit Company's de-sugared fruit technology. The company also publishes the annual 1750 Magazine and Global Beverage Trend Report as thought leadership resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Finlays Solutions: Global extracts business specializing in tea, coffee and botanical solutions, headquartered in the US
• Finlay Beverages
• Finlays Colombo
• Finlays MEAC
• Finlays Argentina
• Finlays Americas

Products and services

• Extracts
• Tea
• Coffee
• Finlays Solutions
• Finlay Beverages
• Finlays Colombo
• Finlays Middle East, Africa and CIS
• Finlays Argentina
• Leahy-IFP
• NewTree De-Sugared Fruit Technology

Quantifiable outcome

• 26% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2022
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sustainit SolutionscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Partnership with Sustainit Solutions, a sustainability data consultancy, on a comprehensive 'Data Assessment and Mapping' project focused on Scope 3 and FLAG emissions. The project includes stakeholder workshops, detailed mapping of current sustainability data, and a full review of data flows, quality, tools, and governance processes.
• Action SustainabilitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Partnership with Action Sustainability, a sustainability consultancy, to codesign and deliver climate and sustainability-focused training for Finlays' procurement and sourcing teams. The training aims to deepen internal capability and help embed sustainability into supplier conversations.
• NewTree Fruit CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Finlays made a strategic investment in NewTree Fruit Company's De-Sugared Fruit Technology, acquiring a minority stake. This partnership enables Finlays to offer low/no sugar solutions to customers by scaling NewTree's patented de-sugaring technology throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico through Finlays Solutions.
• EcoAct (Schneider Electric subsidiary)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Finlays partnered with EcoAct, a climate consultancy and wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider Electric, to deliver a 12-week project focused on strengthening FLAG (Forestry, Land and Agriculture) emissions accounting. The project included workshops, Basis of Reporting updates, and alignment with best practice FLAG emissions calculations.
• Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Finlay Beverages officially joined the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP), a global membership organization dedicated to improving the lives of tea workers and their families, and promoting sustainable tea production through collaboration across the industry.
• United Nations Global CompactcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Finlays joined the United Nations Global Compact, a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and take steps to support UN goals. This aligns Finlays with global best practices in sustainability and human rights.
• Apura IngredientsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorApura Ingredients serves as NewTree Fruit Company's proven distribution partner. Through the strategic investment, Finlays joins NewTree and Apura in scaling de-sugared fruit technology throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• COOMAPminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFinlays partnered with COOMAP, a coffee cooperative in Brazil, as part of their commitment to hosting and supporting the next generation of coffee farmers. Mason Alvalle, Coffee Sourcing Manager at Finlay Beverages, met young coffee producers from Brazil as part of this partnership.
• Kaisugu Tea FactoryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic supplier relationship with Kaisugu Tea Factory in Kenya. Finlays team visited to understand traceability of green leaf from field to finished product, demonstrating collaborative approach to sustainable supply chain management.
• Kuresoi Tea FactoryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic supplier relationship with Kuresoi Tea Factory in Kenya. Finlays team engaged with factory management to share long-term perspective on major issues in the global natural beverages industry and progress on Sustainable Future 2030 commitments.
• Browns Plantations KenyacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrowns Plantations Kenya (formerly James Finlay Kenya, purchased in November 2023) is now Finlays' biggest customer. Finlays remains closely involved in supporting Browns' action plan based on Partner Africa's investigation recommendations regarding human rights due diligence and remediation.
• Partner AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner Africa, a responsible business practices NGO, conducted an in-depth investigation into the extent and nature of misconduct at James Finlay Kenya (now Browns Plantations Kenya). Finlays commissioned this investigation following BBC documentary allegations and continues to work with Partner Africa's recommendations.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Olam Food Ingredients (ofi): Global B2B supplier of coffee, cocoa, dairy and nuts to beverage and food manufacturers; comparable to Finlays as a vertically integrated ingredient supplier serving the same major global CPG customers.
• Neumann Kaffee Gruppe: World's largest green coffee services group with operations across coffee-producing origins and a global B2B customer base; directly comparable to Finlays' coffee ingredient and extraction business.
• ECOM Agroindustrial: Global merchant and processor of coffee and cocoa with vertically integrated sourcing and B2B supply; matches Finlays' model of supplying major beverage brands from origin through processing.
• Sucafina: Vertically integrated green coffee merchant operating across origins with roasting and soluble capabilities; closely comparable to Finlays' coffee business in product range and B2B customer focus.
• McLeod Russel India: One of the world's largest tea producers with owned estates in India and Africa; directly comparable to Finlays' tea growing, extraction and B2B tea supply business, though more concentrated in tea only.

Broad incumbents

• Tata Consumer Products: Major global tea and coffee company with branded and ingredient operations; broader and brand-led compared with Finlays' pure-play B2B ingredient focus but overlapping in tea sourcing and processing.
• Unilever (Tea Division): Owns Lipton, Brooke Bond and PG Tips tea brands and historically a major global tea buyer; a broad incumbent with overlapping sourcing needs, though primarily a brand owner rather than an ingredient-only supplier.
• JDE Peet's: Global coffee company operating brands such as Jacobs, Douwe Egberts and Peet's; a major buyer of green coffee and soluble coffee that overlaps with Finlays' coffee ingredient customer base.
• Nestlé (Coffee & Beverages): World's largest coffee buyer through Nescafé and Nespresso; a key B2B customer comparable in scale to Finlays' largest accounts and a benchmark for sourcing, traceability and sustainability standards.

Others

• Cargill: Global diversified food ingredient supplier with cocoa, corn, sweeteners and other B2B inputs serving beverage manufacturers; not a direct tea/coffee peer but a comparable large-scale B2B ingredient platform with similar customer overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/finlays

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Finlays Group