Science In Sport revenues improve, but loss widens

Sports nutrition company Science in Sport announced its unaudited results for the six months to 30 June on Thursday, with revenues increasing 24% to £6.48m, which the board said demonstrated continued growth, with e-commerce and third-party online retailers being “particularly strong”.

The AIM-traded firm reported a “robust” supply chain performance, with gross margin of £3.82m, improving by 0.7% to 58.9% against the same period last year.

It said international expansion delivered strong growth too, including a successful launch in Australia, where the business was trading in line with expectations.

It saw an underlying operating loss of £0.37m, in line with market expectations and the board’s growth strategy, which it said reflected investment in brand awareness, e-commerce and international market expansion, though it was a wider loss than the £0.33m in the prior comparative period.

Cash and cash equivalents were £6.7m at period end, up from £0.9m, with a share placing raising £8.2m net of costs in October 2015.

“ am pleased to announce yet another period of substantial growth for SiS, which was in line with our expectations, and saw our revenues increase 24% year on year,” said CEO Stephen Moon.

“We have invested heavily in digital marketing and product sampling during the first half, and the benefits are evident in the growth we are achieving, which we believe is significantly ahead of our market peers.”

Moon noted that trading was in line with market expectations, which he said reflected the continued investment in brand awareness and growing the customer database, together with its expansion into Australia.

“International and online growth has been particularly strong and these channels will play a key role in the development of the business.

“Our Australian subsidiary was set up in December 2015 and our geographic footprint has extended into the USA and Germany in the second half of the year.”

The company’s strategic model continued to deliver, as consistent investment in the brand and development of its e-commerce operation resulted in strong top line growth, Moon said.

“This is underpinned by close attention to gross margin and tight control of overheads.

“We remain very confident in our strategy and believe we will continue to deliver sector leading growth.”