What APS Group does

APS Group is a UK-based, family-controlled producer and supplier of British tomatoes, operating as the country's leading supplier of home-grown tomatoes to the high street. Founded in 1949 as A Pearson & Sons, the group has consolidated multiple glasshouse operations across six UK sites — Isle of Wight, Chichester, Kent, Alderley Edge, Teesside, and Hull — totaling over 56 hectares of growing capacity, including 6.9 hectares of organic-status glasshouses. The group operates through five main entities: APS Salads Ltd (customer-facing procurement and sales), APS Produce Ltd (Isle of Wight and Chichester packing), APS Growers Ltd (Teesside and Hull), A Pearson Growers Ltd (Kent), and A Pearson & Sons (1949) LLP (Alderley Edge), all ultimately held under A Pearson Holdings Limited.

The business is built on capital-intensive horticultural infrastructure, including hydroponic glasshouse growing, computer-controlled drip irrigation, LED supplementary lighting, and a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) network totaling 47.2 mWe across all sites. A unique anaerobic digestion plant at the Cheshire nursery converts 3,500 tonnes of tomato leaf waste annually into bio-plastics and leaf-fibre cellulose for sustainable packaging. APS Group maintains multi-site certifications including BRCGS Issue 9 Grade AA, LEAF Marque, RTFA, GlobalG.A.P. GRASP, and SMETA, and chairs the British Tomato Growers Association's R&D function.

APS Group operates a B2B revenue model, selling directly to UK multiple retailers — including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and Greencore — through dedicated supply contracts. Revenue is generated via direct commercial agreements with retail partners (pricing is not publicly disclosed), supplemented by European sourcing through a strategic partnership with Vegex in Poland to cover seasonal and peak-demand gaps. The company received growth investment from Business Growth Fund in December 2017, and remains privately held under Pearson family control.

Name

APS Group

Legal name

A Pearson Holdings Limited

Website

https://apsgroup.uk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

APS Group is a UK-based, family-controlled tomato producer operating six glasshouse sites with over 56 hectares of capacity, supplying conventional and organic British tomatoes to major retailers including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and Greencore.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fresh Produce (Tomato Production)

NAICS

Vegetable and Melon Farming (11121)

SIC

Agricultural Production-Crops (100)

akta.pro primary industry

Hydroponic / Controlled-Environment Produce Wholesale (AFAIACAM)

Keywords

• Fresh tomato supply
• Greenhouse horticulture
• Organic tomato production
• Combined heat power
• UK fresh produce

Headquarters

HQ city

Middlewich

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Fresh Produce Sales to Retailers: APS Group grows and supplies tomatoes and other produce to UK multiple retailers. Revenue is generated through direct sales of conventionally and organically grown tomatoes to major UK supermarket chains.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

APS Group is the UK's leading supplier of British tomatoes to the high street. The group grows, packs, and distributes both conventional and organic British tomatoes from seven production and packhouse sites across the UK (Isle of Wight, Chichester, Kent, Alderley Edge in Cheshire, Teesside, and Hull), supplying major UK retailers including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and Greencore through its customer-facing entity APS Salads Ltd. Operations rely on hydroponic glasshouse production powered by Combined Heat and Power systems, LED lighting, anaerobic digestion, and precision irrigation, with European third-party growers such as Vegex in Poland supplementing British supply year-round.

Product overview

APS Group is a UK-based agricultural business operating as a unified portfolio of tomato growing and supply entities. The group consists of five main operating units: APS Salads Ltd (the customer-facing sales and procurement entity), A Pearson & Sons (1949) LLP (the original family business at Alderley Edge), A Pearson Growers Ltd (Kent), APS Produce Ltd (Isle of Wight/Chichester), and APS Growers Ltd (Teesside/Hull). Together these entities grow, pack, and distribute conventional and organic tomatoes to UK multiple retailers including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and Greencore. The group operates approximately 57+ hectares of glasshouses and produces its own compost, operates anaerobic digestion facilities, and generates renewable energy through combined heat and power systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Conventional British Tomatoes Conventionally grown British tomatoes produced across the group's multiple glasshouse sites (Alderley Edge in Cheshire, Kent, Isle of Wight, Teesside, and Hull), supplied year-round to UK multiple retailers including Tesco, Aldi, Iceland, and Greencore via APS Salads Ltd.
• Organic British Tomatoes Organically grown British tomatoes produced at the APS Produce Ltd Isle of Wight site, which holds 6.9 hectares of organic-status glasshouses, supplied to UK retailers under organic certification standards.

Quantifiable outcome

• Powering over 200,000 homes with electricity generated from CHP systems
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• VegexcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean third-party grower in Poland supplying tomatoes to APS Group during seasonal transitions or peak demand periods. Strategic supply partner supplementing British production to meet customer demand year-round.
• Seed CompaniescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnerships with seed companies to trial and develop new tomato varieties. Includes conducting internal and independent taste panels to produce premium quality tomatoes with the best flavour for customers.
• UniversitiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorking with universities on research and development of novel systems and new growing methods, particularly in relation to anaerobic digestion technology and sustainable agriculture practices.
• Industry ExpertsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with industry experts in developing the unique anaerobic digestion plant that converts tomato leaf waste into valuable by-products including bio-plastics and leaf fibre cellulose.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Flavour Fresh: Flavour Fresh is a UK glasshouse tomato and soft-fruit grower supplying UK multiple retailers — directly overlapping with APS's hydroponic UK tomato supply proposition.
• Thanet Earth: Thanet Earth is one of the largest UK producers of greenhouse-grown tomatoes (alongside cucumbers and peppers), operating large glasshouse sites in Kent that compete head-to-head with APS for UK retailer contracts.
• Cornerways Nursery: Cornerways Nursery (long associated with ABF/AB Growers) is a UK producer of tomatoes under glass, directly comparable to APS in scale, hydroponic protected-cropping production model and UK retailer customer profile.

Broad incumbents

• Windset Farms: Windset Farms is a North American greenhouse-produce grower supplying tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers — a comparable high-tech glasshouse operator demonstrating how the model extends internationally.
• Bonduelle: Bonduelle is a global fresh and processed vegetable producer with significant tomato supply; a broader incumbent competing with APS for fresh-tomato retail share and offering a portfolio alternative to UK buyers.
• Total Produce / Dole plc: Dole plc (post-Total Produce combination) is a broad-line fresh-produce incumbent distributing tomatoes and other produce into UK and European retailers — overlapping with APS at the wholesale-to-retail layer if not at the growing layer.
• T&G Global: T&G Global is an international fresh-produce company with greenhouse-grown tomatoes and berries in its portfolio, comparable to APS as a vertically integrated producer-wholesaler to major grocery customers.

Regional players

• Looye Kwekers: Looye Kwekers is a premium Dutch greenhouse tomato specialist focused on flavour varieties; comparable to APS in technology (high-tech glasshouses) and customer overlap (premium UK and EU retail).
• Westland Tomatoes: Westland Tomatoes is a Dutch greenhouse tomato producer serving Northwest European retailers; it competes with APS indirectly via European tomato flows into the UK market and shares the high-tech glasshouse production model.

Others

• Rijk Zwaan: Rijk Zwaan is one of the world's largest vegetable-seed breeders and a partner in tomato variety development; it sits upstream of APS in the value chain and is strategically adjacent given APS's seed-company trial partnerships.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aps-group-ltd

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about APS Group