Ransom buys up Olympic swimmer's supplement business
business founded by Olympic gold medallist swimmer David Wilkie for
£7.825 million (€11.71m), it said today.
Ransom will pay £4.325m in cash and £3.5m in ordinary shares for the business, Health Perception UK, which is currently the leader in the UK's rapidly growing glucosamine market.
This is Ransom's fifth acquisition in the past three years. The company, which is also active in natural plant extracts for both pharmaceutical and food sectors, is hoping to profit from an increasing interest in natural health in the UK, picking up consumer healthcare brands being offloaded by pharmaceutical companies.
Last year it said that it would sell one of its sites to fund further acquisitions. This would also produce operational savings with consolidation of the company's pharmaceutical manufacturing activities onto one site and generate cash for a new state-of-the-art botanical extraction facility.
Ransom has seen profits slip and little organic growth in the first half of the year but Health Perception is expected to be earnings enhancing from the outset, offering distribution synergies in home and export markets.
The business, founded in 1989, has seen consistently strong sales growth year on year. In the year to 31 December 2003 sales reached £5.4 million, an increase of 31 per cent over the previous year. Sales growth since 1999 on a CAGR basis has been 28 per cent each year.
Profits before tax in 2003 were £0.8 million.
David Wilkie, currently chief executive at Health Perception, and due to remain with the business for a further two years, said the deal "allows us to take the business to the next stage with access to wider distribution as well as Ransom's proven expertise in branded consumer healthcare products and product development skills".
Customers already include the major pharmacy chains and retailers including Boots, Superdrug, Tesco and Sainsbury, as well as independent pharmacies and health food stores. Approximately 8 per cent of sales are exported.
Tim Dye, Ransom chairman, said the deal was the next step towards its goal to becoming the UK's leading natural healthcare company, adding that "we continue to seek appropriate high-quality acquisition opportunities".
