Turnover up but Science in Sport stays in the red
EAST Lancashire-based sports nutrition company Science in Sport has reported a 30% increase in sales for the year to more than £12m but has also seen its losses widen to £2.8m.
The AIM-listed Nelson company saw sales increase to £12.24m in the 12 months to the end of December 2016 (2015: £9.45m). However, pre-tax losses widened to £2.8m (2015: £1.7m), which the company said was down to its continued investment in brand awareness, e-commerce and international expansion.
Gross profit increased to £7.4m (2015: £5.5m) with gross margin improving 1.8% to 60.3%, reflecting factory efficiency improvements it said.
New product development continued to be a key growth driver and delivered £800,000 of sales in the year and contributed 29% of growth.
The company said it had seen a strong start to 2017 sales, with its core UK and EU market forecast to be EBITDA positive this year.
Just under half of all revenue comes from online sales – a figure it expects to increase further in 2017.
Stephen Moon, chief executive of Science in Sport, said: “In line with our growth strategy, we continued to invest heavily in brand equity, marketing, product innovation, e-commerce and International markets, with the benefits evident in both our 30% increase in revenues and growing brand awareness in all markets.
“Online and International growth has been particularly strong during 2016. Our new Australian business delivered sales ahead of plan and in the second half we launched e-commerce websites in the USA, Italy, Germany and Netherlands. Our scienceinsport.com business doubled in size in the year.”
“Our model is working, we have exceeded our revenue growth targets, and we are committed to our strategy of investing in science, brand, e-commerce and International markets. We expect our core UK and EU business to be EBITDA profitable in 2017 and we will deploy cash to support growth in International markets.”
