AGM Statement
11/04/2022 11:00
For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220411:nRSK9545Ha&default-theme=true
RNS Number : 9545H S-Ventures PLC 11 April 2022
11 April 2022
S-Ventures PLC
("S-Ventures", "Group" or the "Company")
S-Ventures, the Company investing in and growing exciting brands across the
natural, wellness and food-tech category, will hold its Annual General Meeting
("AGM") today at 11am at its headquarters in London; 5 Old Bailey, London EC4M
7BA.
Ahead of the meeting S-Ventures would like to share the following update which
David Mitchell, the Company's Non-Executive Chairman will read at the AGM
today:
AGM Statement
S-Ventures has made considerable progress developing its business. Over the
past six months, the Group has completed the acquisition of Livia's Health
Foods Limited business ("Livia's") and Market Rocket Limited ("Market Rocket")
together with the accelerated investment in a new logistics centre at
Brockworth. This new centre has allowed the Company to streamline the Ohso and
We Love Purely businesses by merging their operations into this new centre
which became operational in January 2022.
In common with many businesses in the food sector, the Company has been
affected by headwinds in the economy which has impacted sales plans. However,
our brands are well positioned to benefit from the structural change in the
food market addressing present trends which deal with concerns for
obesity/health and the composition of foods. As such we continue to invest
in food technology to develop and bring forward new brands.
On a like for like basis our sales for the first half year are 10% ahead of
last year, with considerable further growth anticipated. The Board is pleased
to report that Market Rocket, which completed on Friday 8 April 2022, has
already impacted the Amazon revenue very positively, with growth of 45% in the
last quarter over the previous quarter, before they were acquired.
We Love Purely, the plantain crisp business, continues to grow well and is
expected to double its last year revenues by the end of September. Margins are
slightly lower due to freight costs and packaging costs. The growth includes
recently awarded new contracts with Holland & Barrett and Co-op.
Ohso, the probiotic chocolate company, has had a recent re-brand and
management is very excited about its repositioning. This should provide an
impetus to its trade sales but has necessarily taken a little time to arrange.
As a consequence, in the current year, Ohso's performance is below our
internal expectations.
Pulsin, which formulates and produces high quality plant-based products, has
been impacted by a period of investment and reorganisation but despite this,
sales in H1 grew by 10% (year-on-year) and are expected to be significantly
ahead of last year on a full year basis (c.£9m v £6.4m). The Board is
pleased with this strong growth although this has been less than previously
expected. Sales price rises are now being implemented across our Pulsin
product range.
We now have a portfolio of brands that are strongly positioned to address the
market opportunities.
As noted above, the Group has had a number of cost increases beyond its
control - freight rates and packaging costs, for instance, and more recently,
as has been widely reported, a doubling in whey prices. In addition, some of
the unit costs have been impacted by labour shortages and operational
inefficiencies, but these have been mitigated by the commissioning of our new
warehouse.
Management is addressing these cost issues in a variety of ways. Firstly, the
merger of the operations of Ohso and Purely into Pulsin's premises is
beginning to bear fruit. Secondly, the Board has reviewed the cost structure
that it inherited at Pulsin and have undertaken an investment programme which
will remove not only c.£0.3m of operating costs per annum but also enable us
to accelerate growth. Some selling costs have been increased to gain more
product and brand awareness.
Livia's: the Board is pleased to report that the Livia's business, which was
acquired in February 2022, has been absorbed well into the Pulsin operation
and will generate positive EBITDA for the coming period. The Company has
been able to retain all the trade customers of the business. The costs of
integration have been lower than expected and the alliance with Pulsin has
allowed it to reconfigure the range over these two brands.
Other overheads have remained under control despite incurring acquisition
costs for Livia's and Market Rocket.
The investment in Vegan Punk Ventures Limited, a 50% start-up joint venture
focussed on plant-based foods, is expected to show a small profit in the
current half year before considerable growth next year after promising trials
and tasting so far this year.
The Group remains well-resourced after its £3m fund raise last December.
Further acquisitions will largely be satisfied by share issues, together with
specific loans required to finance any balance of consideration and working
capital needs.
Overall, the Directors are pleased with the progress to date and are
anticipating a significant increase in sales for the full year on a
year-on-year basis - although below the market forecast. Consequently, Group
losses for the current year are expected to be reduced significantly. The
steps that have been taken and those being implemented at present will lay
firm foundations for next year where the Group plans to deliver considerable
growth.
We look forward to updating shareholders on progress in due course.
Enquiries:
The Company
Robert Hewitt (Chief Financial Officer) +44 (0) 1932 400 224
Scott Livingston (Chief Executive Officer)
AQSE Corporate Adviser and Broker:
VSA Capital Limited +44 (0) 20 3005 5000
Andrew Raca/Pascal Wiese - Corporate Finance
Andrew Monk - Corporate Broking
IFC Advisory (Financial PR) + 44 (0) 20 3934 6630
Graham Herring
Tim Metcalfe
Florence Chandler
About S-Ventures
S-Ventures is listed on UK AQUIS Exchange (Ticker Code "SVEN"). The Company
seeks to identify investment opportunities in the health & wellness,
organic food and wellbeing sectors within the UK and Europe, adding value by
providing capital and expertise to the target companies. The experience and
operational skills of the Board led by Scott Livingston (CEO) are intended to
act as an accelerator to smaller brands that have a solid foundation and
platform but may lack the skills and capital. The main objectives are to
cross-fertilise opportunities between the target companies and scale the
individual entities and look for exit opportunities and/or synergistic
collaborations through scaling we seek to create significant value for all
stakeholders. Since listing on AQSE in September 2020, the Company has
acquired significant interests in seven companies.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
. END NEXGPUUUCUPPUBG