Shares of Supreme plc, the Manchester fast-moving consumer products firm, rose as much as 13% after it published strong results for the six months to September 30, 2023.

The firm also reported healthy third-quarter trading to date, resulting in another full-year profit upgrade.

Supreme said first-half revenue rose 63% to a record £105.1 million and pre-tax profit soared 179% to £12.3 million.

Interim dividend will rise 88% to 1.5p per share.

Supreme reported a 25% increase in vaping production capacity at its Manchester-based manufacturing site “to accommodate the manufacturing operations of all three vaping businesses acquired in FY 2023 and to support further organic growth.”

The firm said it “rolled out and significantly scaled the new ElfBar distribution opportunity, including new customer onboarding and extensive product testing, which demonstrates the company’s ability to adapt quickly to new opportunities.”

The Manchester company said revenue growth has been driven by ElfBar distribution, which generated £26.4 million revenue in the period, and strong organic growth of £8.7 million arising from Lighting (21% growth), Vaping (17% growth) and Sports Nutrition & Wellness (17% growth).

Prior-year acquisitions reported growth of £5.4 million.

Supreme said the second half of FY24 has begun very well with continued growth reported across all divisions within the group.

“This strong performance in the core business and the growing breadth of ElfBar distribution, combined with a tightly controlled overhead base have led the board to, again, significantly increase its expectation of full year profitability for the year ending 31 March 2024 (FY 2024) …” said the firm.

“The group now expects trading for FY 2024 to be significantly ahead of company-issued guidance, with revenue guidance of around £210 – 225 million and Adjusted EBITDA guidance of approximately £32 – 35 million, an increase of around £4.5 million compared to the previous company-issued guidance, with around £1.5 million of the incremental Adjusted EBITDA arising from the core business and around £3.0 million incremental Adjusted EBITDA arising from the ElfBar distribution opportunity …”

Supreme CEO Sandy Chadha said: “I am delighted to report another exceptional period of trading for the group, delivering record revenue and profit growth.

“This strong performance has been undoubtedly driven by our established vaping activities, alongside solid sales momentum across the remainder of the business including sales growth in Lighting of 21% and Sports Nutrition & Wellness of 17%.

“In light of our growing presence across the UK vaping sector, we remain highly vigilant to the growing problem of underage vaping and welcome any preventative measures that prevent the supply of vape products to underage individuals whilst acknowledging the important role that the vape industry will continue to play in delivering the UK Government’s ‘Achieving Smoke-free 2030’ initiative.

“Looking ahead, the second half of the year is shaping up to be another significant period for Supreme.

“The group remains ideally placed to continue to deliver robust operational and financial progress as we strive to deliver ongoing profit momentum.”