UK: Duracell battery maker bolsters sport nutrition business with £1.3m acquisition
Supreme will use the SCI-MX brand to scale its growing nutrition and wellness arm
UK household consumer goods group Supreme has acquired sports nutrition business SCI-MX Nutrition’s remaining warehouse stock from Gloucestershire SME Samworth Brothers for £1.3 million.
The deal covers the SCI-MX and PRO2GO products and branding and will be funded by the groups existing cash resources.
Samworth Brothers said in a recent statement the SCI-MX business would close at the end of July and discussions with staff on redeploying to other areas of the business were ongoing.
The statement said SCI-MX had been loss-making for several years and the investment needed to bring the business to profitability did not make good economic sense.
Supreme expects to leverage SCI-MX’s long-standing relationship with leading retailers and will cross-sell its brands into Supreme’s online ecommerce platform.
The Duracell and Energizer battery maker has secured a 52,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution facility a mile away from its existing site to support the growth of its sports nutrition business and house SCI-MX’s stock.
Supreme CEO Sandy Chadha said the transaction broadened the company’s fast-growing sports nutrition and wellness product portfolio and delivered further scale in the segment.
“It also leaves us ideally placed to create additional sales traction across our extensive retail footprint in what is becoming an ever more important category for the group,” Chadha said.
Grant Thornton acted as the group’s financial advisor, while Berenberg acted as its broker.
In June, Supreme also acquired Dublin-based batteries and lighting products distrubitor Vendek for up to €182 million.
It commenced trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in February.