Hut Group completes Ideal acquisition
ONLINE retailer The Hut Group has acquired US sports nutrition specialist Ideal – trading as IdealShape and IdealFit – for a figure believed to be about $100m.
Launched in the USA in 2003, Ideal generates $60m of online, direct-to-consumer revenues annual and boasts and annual growth rate of more than 250%.
Warrington-based THG says the acquisition confirms its position as the preeminent global online health and beauty brand owner and retailer.
IdealShape and IdealFit currently retail 57 products including weight management and protein shakes, bars and supplements, reaching customers through user generated content, personal trainer ambassadors and a large highly engaged social media audience.
The deal has been led by Adam Knappy, the 27-year-old chief executive of THG’s Lifestyle division.
At completion of the acquisition, Ideal was fully integrated onto THG’s technology and operating platform; including the group’s 250,000sq ft distribution and production centre in Kentucky, which began operation in 2016.
The acquisition continues the expansion of THG’s consumer reach in North America, following the US launches of Myprotein (2014) and Lookfantastic (2015) and the recent acquisitions of Mio Skincare (2015), Grow Gorgeous (2016) and Skinstore (2016).
CEO and founder Matthew Moulding said: “I am delighted to welcome the Ideal Shape team to the Group. This is a genuinely innovative and popular brand with a fast growing and complementary customer base in the USA.
“We look forward to sharing our in-house manufacturing and technology platform to further develop the range and take the brand to new audiences around the world.”
THG claims a track-record of rapidly scaling brands through a combination of product range development and internationalisation.
The company says the IdealShape and IdealFit ranges will expand with the benefit of the group’s best-in-class nutrition and weight management production and research centre housed within its 1.1 million sq ft facility in Omega, Warrington.
Ideal will internationalise via a rollout of country-specific websites, leveraging THG’s proprietary technology and international platform which currently powers over 100 country-specific websites.
