Liverpool-based Applied Nutrition plc, the sports nutrition, health, and wellness brand, said its first half revenue rose 57% to £74.5 million and adjusted profit before tax soared 54% to £20.9 million in the six months to January 31.
But the firm’s shares fell around 10% as it warned: “The group is cognisant of the current disruption to shipping routes and purchasing activities within the Middle East.
“Although we expect some reduction in volumes into the region during the second half, at this stage there is no change to FY26 guidance of full year revenue of approximately £140 million.”
On dividends, the firm said: “There was no dividend declared or paid in the period. In H1 FY25 there was a dividend declared and paid of £14.7m prior to the IPO of the company.
“The company does not anticipate declaring a further dividend before FY27 thereby retaining cash for investment in capacity, efficiency and potential M&A opportunities that the group is considering.”
Applied Nutrition CEO Thomas Ryder said: “Our vision to become the world’s most trusted and innovative sports nutrition, health, and wellness brand remains at the heart of our ambition.
“This six-month period has further highlighted both the breadth of opportunity before us and our proven ability to realise it. The performance and momentum across the business reflects a consumer environment that continues to shift decisively towards health, fitness and wellbeing.
“We have continued to execute against our strategic priorities in the period, with deeper engagement and expanded shelf space with existing customers, new customer wins and entry into new channels, continued international rollout into new geographies, while further progressing the build-out of our D2C offering.
“Since our IPO, we have seen an uplift in our profile, awareness, trust and credibility – exactly as we had envisaged, but even more impactful than we could have anticipated. This has enabled us to move faster and think bigger, with an innovation engine that is stronger than ever, allowing us to bring new products to market at pace, deepen customer relationships and adapt quickly to evolving consumer needs as we continue to build the business for the long term.”