REG - Venture Life Group - Completion of Divestment & Trading Update

Venture LifeAnnouncement

25/07/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 5150S  Venture Life Group PLC  25 July 2025

25 July 2025

 

 

VENTURE LIFE GROUP PLC

 

("Venture Life", "VLG" or the "Group")

 

Completion of Divestment

 

Trading Update

 

New Appointments

 

Year-end Accounting Date

 

 

Venture Life (AIM: VLG), a leading innovator in the global consumer healthcare
sector, is pleased to announce the completion of the sale of its contract
development and manufacturing operations, as well as select non-core products
(the "Sale") . The Company also provides a trading update for the six month
period ended 30 June 2025 (the "Period"), information regarding recent
appointments to the Board and Senior Management team, and notice of a change
to its financial year-end.

 

Completion of Divestment

Further to the announcement on 12 May 2025, BioDue S.p.a. has received the
requisite approval under the foreign direct investment regimes in Italy and
Sweden to proceed with the Sale. Therefore, the Company is pleased to announce
that the Sale has today completed.

 

Trading Update & Outlook

The ongoing business of the Group delivered revenues of £15.3 million in the
Period, reflecting an increase of c.38% compared to the previous year (H1
2024: £11.1 million). On a proforma basis, revenues were c.11% higher than
the same period in 2024. The newly acquired Health & Her/Him brands have
contributed strongly to growth and generated revenues of £3.4 million,
reflecting an increase of c.21% over the prior year on a proforma basis.

 

In line with the announcement for the year ened 31 December 2024, the Company
has continued to increase investment in marketing activities to raise
awareness over its Power Brands and this is expected to further drive revenue
upwards moving forward, with a number of new product listings being added over
the course of the period which will have a full-period effect into the second
half of the year.

 

Following the completion of the Sale, the Company currently holds a net cash
position of approximately £36 million and is actively exploring exciting
M&A opportunities which will be immediately earnings enhancing. The
Group's trading performance to date, coupled with order book visibility and
uplifts expected from new listings provide the Board with confidence that full
year financial performance is on-course to be in line with market
expectations.

 

New Appointments

The Company announces some key new management appointments:

 

·      Kate Bache, co-founder of Health & Her, has been appointed as
Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, and will join the Board of the Company
on 1 November 2025, subject to customary regulatory due diligence. Kate holds
a Masters Degree in Chemistry, and has had a 20 year career in brands,
marketing and innovation with Reckitt Benckiser, Kellogg's and PepsiCo, and
founded two businesses in women's health, the latter of which, Health and Her,
was founded in 2019 and acquired by Venture Life in November 2024. In her new
role Kate will be responsible for the marketing, brand management and
innovation across the whole Venture Life Group.

 

·      Gervase Fernandes, co-founder of Health & Her, has been
appointed as Strategic Growth Director. Gervase holds an MBA in Retailing and
prior to co-founding Health & Her has had a career in health & beauty
retail and brand management, at Superdrug, Kantar and Tesco. In her new role,
Gervase will be responsible for developing and growing strategic partnerships
across key global retailers to drive growth across all of the Venture Life
Group Brands.

 

·      Sarah Arthur has been appointed as Interim Commercial Director.
Sarah holds a degree in Pharmacy and had a long and distinguished career for
26 years with Johnson & Johnson in global customer development, and most
recently was Vice President Global Customer and Business Development for
retail health & wellness in the USA. Sarah left Johnson & Johnson to
set up her own consultancy in Strategic Customer Management in Health &
Beauty and has been working with Venture life since the start of the year in
the development of our strategic customer growth strategy. Sarah brings a
wealth of experience into the Group, and over the short term will bolster,
support and develop our commercial team to deliver our strategic commercial
growth objectives.

 

·      Matt Jeffs has been appointed Head of M&A. Matt holds a
Masters degree in Physics and qualified as a chartered accountant with EY. He
has had a career in corporate finance with a regional boutique M&A
adviser, where he advised on over £350m of transactions, after which he was
head hunted as in investment manager for the family office of a successful
organic foods business. Matt's appointment will enable the Company to execute
on its M&A strategy giving valuable experience and resource to the
management team and Board.

 

Year End Change

In alignment with the Group's revised strategy and with the objective of
reducing revenue seasonality and managing specific operating costs more
effectively, the Company announces its intention to amend the year-end
accounting date to 31 May. This change is subject to customary AIM procedures,
after which the current reporting period will be extended to conclude on 31
May 2026 and a further announcement will follow in due course.

 

(1) Proforma basis i.e. if the acquisitions had been in place for the whole
of the prior year.

 

 

Jerry Randall, CEO, commented: "I am delighted to announce the completion of
the divestment announced on 12 May 2025, which has delivered the significant
cash resources to the Group to drive growth, now with net cash of
approximately £36 million, and I thank the whole team involved in delivering
this. I am also very excited to announce the senior appointments to the
business, bringing a wealth of energy, expertise and experience into our
business. Since the acquisition of Health & Her, Kate and Gervase have
delivered strong year on year growth and continued to successfully develop the
Health & Her brand, and I am delighted that they will be bringing that
wider expertise and their energy to bear across the Group as we begin to
integrate Health & Her into the Venture Life Group and drive the business
forward. Similarly, I am delighted that Sarah will be joining us on a full
time basis where the Group will, and has already begun to, benefit from her
extensive expertise and experience with Johnson & Johnson in global
customer development in the global health & beauty space. And finally the
appointment of Matt returns to us that dedicated resource in order to
carefully assess and transact the exciting M&A opportunities in the
market. These appointments combined with our existing dynamic team will drive
both organic and acquired growth in our business, applying the significant
resource we have from the divested CDMO businesses, and delivering on our new
capital light brand focused strategy for growth, and I am very excited for
what the team will deliver from here."

 

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/George Lawson (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
commercialising products for the global self-care market. Headquartered in
the UK, the Group's product portfolio includes Balance Activ in the area of
women's intimate healthcare, Earol® supporting ENT care, Lift and Glucogel
product ranges for energy and glucose management and hypoglycaemia, plus the
Health & Her product range supporting the hormonal lifecycle.

 

The products, which are typically recommended by pharmacists or healthcare
practitioners, are available primarily through health & beauty stores,
pharmacies, grocery multiples and e-commerce channels and are sold globally.
In the UK,  Ireland and the USA these are supplied direct by the company to
retailers, elsewhere they are supplied by the Group's international
distribution partners.

 

 

Regulatory Disclosures

 

The following details are disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two Paragraph (g) of
the AIM Rules for Companies:

 

Katherine Louise Bache, age 43, holds or has held the following directorships
in the past five years:

 

 Current Directorships
 Health and Her Ltd

 Holestone Ltd

 

 

 

 

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