6
August 2024
VENTURE LIFE GROUP
PLC
("Venture
Life", "VLG" or the "Group")
Trading Update
Marketing investment
fuelling strong organic growth for VLG's Brands in the
UK
Venture Life (AIM: VLG), a leader in
developing, manufacturing and commercialising products for the
international self-care market, announces a trading update for the
six months ended 30 June 2024 (the "Period"), ahead of the expected
announcement of the Group's interim results on 30 September
2024.
Trading Overview:
Group revenues for the Period of
£23.5m (H1 2023: £23.5m) were in line with plan and showed strong
growth for VLG's Brands in the UK market. VLG's Brands accounted
for 59% of first half revenues (H1 2023: 56%) and in absolute terms
increased by 5% during the Period to £13.8m (H1 2023: £13.1m),
whilst the UK share of these sales grew by 14% to £9.4m (H1 2023:
£8.3m). Revenue from Customer Brands declined by 7% to £9.6m (H1
2023: £10.4m). This was as expected due to a particularly strong H1
2023 performance and reflected these customers returning to normal
inventory levels.
Balance Activ, Lift and Earol
continue to perform particularly well in the UK, delivering revenue
growth of 14%, 30% and 13% respectively, over the same period. The
performance of these brands follows new listings for both existing
and newly developed products, plus increased investment in
marketing which has driven growth across all our key channels. It
is pleasing to see the returns being achieved from these
initiatives and the positive impact across the wider VLG Brands
portfolio, with further gains also achieved in oral care where
Ultradex revenues performed 23% ahead of last year, driven by
increased promotional activity. Online sales via Amazon have
continued to grow at pace, increasing by another 50% over the prior
period to £2.5m (H1 2023: £1.6m and H1 2022: £0.9m). Further new
retail listings have been secured since the beginning of the year
and will be launched throughout 2024 and recently signed deals with
international partners will deliver inaugural revenues in the
second half of the year.
Gross margin is anticipated to
improve by approximately 1ppt over the same period last year and is
primarily a result of a greater sales composition of the higher
margin VLG Brands and also the easing of inflationary pressures on
supply prices.
Cash and debt
Solid free cashflow generation in
the Period resulted in a further net debt reduction of
approximately £3.0m to £10.7m (31 December 2023: £13.7m). Group
leverage is anticipated to fall below 0.8x by the end of the year
(31 December 2023: 1.3x) and presents more opportunity to explore
strategic investment through attractive and accretive
M&A.
Outlook
As is customary, revenues will be
weighted towards the second half, particularly in the case of our
international partners. The Group's strong order book provides good
visibility over current revenue guidance and continues to build,
notably comprising a much greater apportionment of higher margin
VLG Brands than compared to the same time last year. The Board
remains confident that trading for the full year financial
performance is on-course to be in line with market
expectation
Jerry Randall, CEO of Venture Life, commented:
"I am thrilled
by the performance of VLG's Brands within the UK; we have launched
some great new products over the last year and continued to grow
our distribution points, most significantly across core brands,
including Lift, Balance Activ and Earol. The increased investment
in focused marketing activity, plus the strengthening of
relationships with major retailers, is delivering evident results
and has put us well placed to quickly build-out further, with
exciting potential collaborations also under discussion within
Europe. Further, we have taken steps to internalise production of
the recently acquired Earol brand and have begun manufacturing
these products from Biokosmes during H2 which will deliver further
gross margin improvement."
1 Group leverage calculated as
net debt (excl. finance leases) and using Adjusted
EBITDA2 on a trailing 12-month basis.
2 Adjusted EBITDA for Group
leverage is EBITDA after deduction of finance lease costs and
before deduction of exceptional items and share based
payments.
For
further information, please contact:
Venture Life Group
PLC
+44 (0) 1344 578004
Jerry Randall, Chief Executive
Officer
Daniel Wells, Chief Financial
Officer
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Nomad and
Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7720 0500
Stephen Keys / Camilla Hume
(Corporate Finance)
Michael Johnson (Sales)
About Venture Life (www.venture-life.com)
Venture Life is an international
consumer self-care company focused on developing, manufacturing and
commercialising products for the global self-care market. With
operations in the UK, Italy, The Netherlands and Sweden, the
Group's product portfolio includes some key products such as the
UltraDEX and Dentyl oral care product ranges, the Balance Activ
range in the area of women's intimate healthcare, the Lift and
Glucogel product ranges for hypoglycaemia, Gelclair and Pomi-T for
oncology support, Earol for ear wax removal, products for fungal
infections and proctology, and dermo-cosmetics for addressing the
signs of ageing. Its products are sold in over 90 countries
worldwide.
The products, which are typically
recommended by pharmacists or healthcare practitioners, are
available primarily through pharmacies and grocery multiples. In
the UK and The Netherlands these are supplied direct by the company
to retailers, elsewhere they are supplied by the Group's
international distribution partners.
Through its two Development &
Manufacturing operations in Italy and Sweden, the Group also
provides development and manufacturing services to companies in the
medical devices and cosmetic sectors.