Vitabiotics: Turnover nears £200m at vitamins giant run by former Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani
Sales at Vitabiotics, the vitamins giant run by former Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani, jumped towards the £200m mark during its latest financial year as its profits also increased.
The London-headquartered business has reported sales of £196.4m for 2023, according to accounts filed with Companies House long after the 30 September deadline.
The new total comes after Vitabiotics posted a turnover of £174.2m in 2022.
In the UK, Vitabiotics’ sales increased from £65.8m to £78.1m and from £108.4m to £118.3m in the rest of the world.
The results also show the firm’s pre-tax profit rose from £50.4m to £55.2m over the 12 months.
Vitabiotics accounts for 2024 are due to be filed with Companies House by the end of September 2025.
The company was founded in 1971 by Kartar Lalvani and is now run by his son, Tej Lalvani, who appeared on Dragons’ Den from 2017 to 2021.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The company’s overall sales figure of £196.5m reflects an impressive growth of 13 per cent in 2023.
“UK national accounts sales delivered a substantial growth of 18 per cent, representing incremental sales of £12.4m, despite the company’s existing high share of the VMS [vitamins, minerals and supplements] market in the K and the cost-of-living crisis.
“The positive trend towards online sales continued strongly, with a growth in e-commerce sales of 37 per cent.
“This helped to deliver a final UK turnover [of] £78.2m and the company maintained its position as the largest UK vitamin company by value sales.
“Performance in key export markets remained strong, driven by exceptional growth in the Middle East and Asia, achieving a final export turnover of over £118.3m.
“In Europe, Ukraine achieved a remarkable and commendable 84 per cent growth despite the devastating situation on the ground.
“China [became] the company’s biggest overall export market with a growth of 33 per cent despite economic challenges in the region.
“Market rollouts continued in 2023, notably with Wellman Conception Max, as well as the new launch of Pefectil Biotherpy Oil, an exciting development in the UK’s leading beauty supplement brand to expand into topical skincare.
“The directors are satisfied that the company achieved an overall good performance in terms of revenues and gross margin, given complex and rapidly changing market conditions.”