REG - Venture Life Group - Trading Update

Venture LifeAnnouncement

06/08/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 2616Z  Venture Life Group PLC  06 August 2024

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 EBITDA(2) 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 (http://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.

 

 

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