TIDMVLG
RNS Number : 1201U
Venture Life Group PLC
01 December 2021
1 December 2021
VENTURE LIFE GROUP PLC
("Venture Life", "Group" or the "Company")
Trading Update & Board Changes
Venture Life (AIM: VLG), a leader in developing, manufacturing
and commercialising products for the self-care market, provides the
following update on trading and details of Board changes.
Trading update
Some of the themes that were referenced in the Company's Interim
Results, announced on 23 September 2021, have continued. The
integration of BBI Healthcare, the Company's largest ever
acquisition, remains on track and the Directors are pleased with
the progress that has been made. The Helsinn Integrative Care
Portfolio, acquired in August this year, has also performed in line
with management's expectations and is further evidence of the
Company's skill in identifying and executing acquisitions well.
More specifically, through BBI Healthcare brands, evaluation is
underway at both Savers and Co-op on Balance Activ. Also, given the
success that Balance Active has had on the Amazon platform in the
UK, plans are underway to launch the brand in Germany on Amazon,
which is expected to take place in Q1 2022.
In the Interim Results, reference was made to some of the
challenges that the Group had been experiencing. These challenges
persist; the ongoing impact of COVID continues to affect confidence
across many markets, with some customers choosing to reduce
inventory, rather than place new orders, and also to delay orders
at short notice. The industry continues to experience increased
input prices, not all of which can be passed on to customers
immediately, along with supply shortages for some components, and
the well publicised issues with truck availability / pricing have
created additional uncertainty surrounding logistics. The Company's
Chinese partner has continued to disappoint against expected levels
of sales and, as a result, the Company is exploring alternative
opportunities to ensure that sales in China are maximised in 2022
and beyond.
The Company continues to await the publication of the
peer-reviewed in vivo study carried out by Cardiff University,
which was completed in April this year. Whilst the Board is
disappointed that this has taken longer than expected to publish,
and does acknowledge that the timing is outside the control of
Cardiff University, it is hopeful the final publication will be
available soon. Further, the Company notes the recent announcement
made by Salisbury Hospital regarding specific mouth care guidance
for patients with Covid-19. As well as regular toothbrushing, the
guidance also suggests that both Dentyl Dual Action and Dentyl
Fresh Protect should be used. The Company understands this guidance
was based on research conducted by Doctors at Salisbury Hospital,
as well as the in-vitro (lab based) results widely published by
Cardiff University in November 2020.
In summary, the Directors see many reasons to be optimistic and
are pleased with how the Company is positioned, including its
ability to react quickly to address things that are within its
control. The Company is profitable, cash generative, with a healthy
cash balance, and has a Revolving Credit Facility as a source of
non-dilutive funding for selective earnings enhancing acquisitions,
which it continues to assess. The Board, therefore, is confident
that the Company is well placed to capitalise on opportunities that
it believes will arise as a result of the current market
conditions.
The Board expects December to be an important month of trading
for the Group but confidence in predicting certain deliverables,
particularly logistics, remains lower than normal. Whilst the
Company believes that turnover for the year will be not less than
GBP32 million (not less than GBP37 million on a proforma basis,
assuming the BBI Healthcare and Helsinn acquisitions had been in
place for the full year), the final outcome for 2021 will be
determined by how these volatile issues conclude. Actions have been
taken by the Board to mitigate the impact of some of the external
factors affecting the Company and, with our products set to be
launched in new outlets internationally next year and with our
order book ahead of where it was at the same time last year (on a
like for like basis), the Company continues to look to 2022 with
confidence.
Board changes
The Company also announces that, after eight years as Chair of
the Group, Dr Lynn Drummond is retiring from the Board. A process
is underway to identify a suitable successor and we will update the
market on this in due course. Lynn will continue to Chair the Board
until that new appointment is made.
Lynn joined the Board of VLG in the autumn of 2013, and has
presided over the Board through the flotation of the Group on AIM
in 2014, and its growth through both acquired and organic means
since then. The Group is now an established, growing and
sustainably profitable consumer healthcare business, with
operations in four countries and over 200 partners selling its
products in over 90 countries. The Board of VLG would like to thank
Lynn for everything she has done to support the management team of
the business through this exciting period of growth for the
Group.
In addition, the Company announces that Mr Andrew Waters, Chief
Financial Officer, is leaving the business to pursue other business
interests. He will remain with the business over the next six
months in order to provide a smooth transition to his successor.
Andrew joined the business in May 2019 and has supported the growth
of the business in recent years, through three acquisitions and
obtaining the Revolving Credit Facility. The Board would like to
thank Andrew for his time at VLG.
The Company has appointed Mr Daniel Wells as Chief Financial
Officer, and he will be appointed as a director of VLG as soon as
practicable, subject to the approval of the Company's Nominated
Adviser in accordance in the AIM Rules, and a further announcement
will be made in due course. Daniel joined the Group in June 2021 as
part of the acquisition of private equity backed BBI Healthcare,
where he worked for the last two years in the role of Finance
Director and played an integral part in the sale of the business.
Prior to this, he spent ten years at a FTSE 250 company, Mitie
Group PLC, in a variety of senior finance and commercial roles
across the UK and Ireland, including as Divisional Head of Finance
and later as Strategic Account Director for a major UK retail
customer with revenues of over GBP50 million per annum. Daniel
started his career in the private healthcare sector as part of the
Corporate Finance team at Hazlewoods LLP in Cheltenham. He is a
chartered accountant and a member of the AAT.
Jerry Randall, CEO of Venture Life, commented:
"I would like to express my deepest thanks to Lynn, who, after 8
years as our Chair, is stepping down, and is making way for a new
Chair to join the business. With Lynn as Chair, since before IPO,
we have grown the business into a substantial and sustainably
profitable international consumer healthcare business. Lynn leaves
the business with a firm foundation for future growth and I wish
Lynn the very best for her future beyond VLG.
Andrew joined us in 2019 and has been with us through a period
of growth, and through the tough COVID times, and I would also like
to thank Andrew for his hard work and dedication here at VLG, and
wish him well in his future endeavours.
I am delighted to welcome Daniel Wells as CFO to the business;
Danny has made a very positive contribution to the Group already,
since he joined at the time of the BBI Healthcare acquisition in
June.
As we highlighted in September, and has been reported widely in
the media, trading conditions at this time are challenging for many
businesses. More pleasingly, we are beginning to see positive
traction in passing some price increases onto customers, although
this will take 12 months to fully wash through. Also, in the second
half, we have had the strong impact of the higher margin
acquisitions made in the summer, with both acquisitions performing
well and in line with our expectations.
Despite the difficult trading conditions through COVID, the
business will grow revenues year on year from 2020 to 2021 and we
expect this growth to continue in 2022 before any new acquisitions.
The challenging trading conditions mean that we are now more
cautious about the levels of growth that we expect in the immediate
future, but we are confident that our growing revenues will deliver
growing profitability. We know that our resilient business is well
placed to deal with the challenges of this COVID environment and is
well placed to perform strongly when more normalised trading
conditions return."
This announcement contains price sensitive information.
For further information, please contact:
Venture Life Group PLC +44 (0) 1344 578004
Jerry Randall, Chief Executive Officer
Daniel Wells, Chief Financial Officer
+44 (0) 20 7397
Cenkos Securities plc (Nomad and Joint Broker) 8900
Michael Johnson/Russell Kerr (Sales)
Stephen Keys/Camilla Hume (Corporate Finance)
+44 (0) 20 7496
Singer Capital markets (Joint Broker) 3000
Jonathan Dighe (Sales)
Shaun Dobson/Alaina Wong (Corporate Finance)
About Venture Life ( www.venture-life.com )
Venture Life is an international consumer self-care company
focused on developing, manufacturing and commercialising products
for the global self-care market. With operations in the UK, Italy,
The Netherlands and Sweden, the Group's product portfolio includes
some key products such as the UltraDEX and Dentyl oral care product
ranges, the Balance Active range in the area of women's intimate
healthcare, the Lift and Glucogel product ranges for hypoglycaemia,
products for fungal infections and proctology, and dermo-cosmetics
for addressing the signs of ageing. Its products are sold in over
90 countries worldwide.
The products, which are typically recommended by pharmacists or
healthcare practitioners, are available primarily through
pharmacies and grocery multiples. In the UK and The Netherlands
these are supplied direct by the company to retailers, elsewhere
they are supplied by the Group's international distribution
partners.
Through its two Development & Manufacturing operations in
Italy and Sweden, the Group also provides development and
manufacturing services to companies in the medical devices and
cosmetic sectors.
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END
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