Unfit British a new frontier for vitamin companies Vitaco and...

Unfit British a new frontier for vitamin companies Vitaco and Swisse

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The British currently consume sports nutrition products at only one-third the rate of Australians. Chris Ratcliffe
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by Simon Evans
Unfit British people and gym junkies in China are a new frontier for ASX-listed vitamins and sports nutrition company Vitaco, while bigger rival Swisse is also making solid headway in the UK market eight months into an expansion.
Vitaco is banking on a rise in consumption of sports nutrition products such as protein bars and protein powders in the UK, which has consumption rates per capita at about one-third of Australia's.
Chief executive Ryan D'Almeida thinks it represents a major opportunity for the company's Aussie Bodies range, which has cemented a position as the No.1 sports nutrition brand in Australia.
A range of low-carb mini protein bars under the Aussie Bodies range are being sold through British pharmacy giant Boots under a deal that began in April. They are in 186 Boots outlets in the UK, as well as being sold online.

Boots also began stocking the vitamin products of Swisse in October 2015, and a Swisse spokeswoman said on Tuesday that early sales have been "strong".
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BLACKMORE. FPO (BKL)

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Natural health solutions
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Swisse is sold in the UK through a distribution agreement signed last year with PGT Healthcare – a joint venture between US healthcare giant Procter & Gamble and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
The Swisse brand is aggressively promoted in the UK, using "ambassadors" including actor Nicole Kidman and British singer and television personality Alesha Dixon – a judge on the Britain's Got Talent television program.
Vitaco listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in September 2015 but has found the going tough in the past few months, with its shares now 25 per cent down on the $2.10 issue price after a float that raised $232 million.

It has remained in the shadows of the two larger Australian-based vitamins companies, Blackmores and Swisse, which have both experienced a huge jump in sales to China thanks to the attraction of the "clean and green" brands to Chinese consumers.
Blackmores does not sell its products in the UK market, and is heavily focused on Asia, with China representing 40 per cent of total revenues.
Vitaco, which sells vitamins brands Nutra-Life, Healtheries and Wagner, is stepping up its presence in China, and on June 1 a new China-based general manager, Jing Zhang, started an on-the-ground role to oversee the strategy.
Vitaco's China sales in the first half of financial year 2016 were $11.5 million. Its most popular product in China is Nutra-Life Cranberry.

The company is also honing in on the rising number of Chinese people in major cities who do weight training at gyms and at home, setting up a Musashi flagship store on the hugely popular Tmall website in China at the start of June, to drive more sales of the Musashi protein powders, drinks and amino acids.
Vitaco bought the Musashi business in 2015 and has now fully integrated the operation into its own stable, transferring the manufacturing of 83 different products to its own production sites at East Tamaki in Auckland, New Zealand.
The company's sports nutrition brands, which make up about 38 per cent of total revenues, are also set to expand further in the Middle East, with the Aussie Bodies brand to be sold through a large pharmacy chain.
Swisse was acquired by Hong Kong-listed Biostime International in September 2015 for $1.67 billion, in a hotly contested bidding war. Blackmores shares on Tuesday gained almost 4 per cent to close at $141, having been above $200 in late April.


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