Nutrition firm SiS targets strong 2019 after Yorkshire acquisition

SPORT-SUPPLEMENT FIRM Science in Sport posted group sales of £21.3m in 2018 and is set to launch into the Chinese market in the coming months.

The firm, which acquired Hullbased PhD Nutrition last month for £32m, saw an underlying sales growth of 27 per cent to £19.8m with a strong online sales increase of 29 per cent to £11.2m.

Analysts predicted the PhD deal would strongly contribute to SiS’s outlook for the year ahead as it builds on existing markets in America, Italy and Australia.

Its international business sales rose 55 per cent to £6.8m last year and SiS said its final results for the year are expected to be in line with market expectations.

Stephen Moon, chief executive of SIS, said: “Our consistent strategy of investment in brand and innovation produced a strong performance in line with our expectations.

“We remain committed to an omni-channel strategy, however our focus on the growth drivers of the SiS.com business and developing international markets produced exceptional results. We were delighted to have secured the PhD Nutrition business and its excellent management team and integration is on track to maximise the combined potential.

“Over the coming years our ambition is to build the world’s leading premium performance nutrition business.

“In the last five years the Science in Sport business has delivered CAGR of 25 per cent and with our proven strategy and the PhD acquisition, the board remains confident of continued strong growth in 2019 and beyond.” Analysts Liberum issued a buy notice on SiS, saying the firm had delivered a very strong performance with H2 sales growth accelerating from the H1 run-rate.

“We see the first full-year from PhD contributing strongly and the capture of meaningful synergies could surprise on the upside.

“Structural growth dynamics remain strong and the nascent opportunities in international markets alongside a robust UK performance should bode well for the year ahead.”