SCIENCE IN SPORT PLC
(“Company” or “Group”)
Trading Update
Science in Sport plc (AIM: SIS), the premium performance nutrition company serving elite athletes, sports enthusiasts and the gym lifestyle community, announces an update on trading to date for the financial year ending 31 December 2019.
2019 has seen rapid progress at the Company. The integration of the PhD acquisition has been completed on time, with synergies already being achieved in line with plan, and the growth rate of the PhD brand has doubled over historic rates. The SiS brand has continued to grow strongly, in line with its six-year compound annual growth rate of more than 25%. Growth from the strategic priorities of both e-commerce and international markets has also been strong.
As a result, total sales growth for the year to 31 December 2019 is expected to be slightly ahead of market expectations, with sales momentum into 2020 underpinned by operational progress including a new PhD.com e-commerce platform and a new protein powder line, which is now in full production.
During the current half, the Group has absorbed a global whey price increase and also a foreign exchange effect relating to very strong sales of Smart Bars. As a consequence, the previously expected small EBITDA profit of £0.3m for the year is now anticipated to be a small EBITDA loss.
Cash balances at the year-end are expected to be in line with management expectations at approximately £5.3m.
The outlook for the remaining few weeks of the current year and for 2020 continues to be strong, underpinned by a robust innovation pipeline, the current year's operational progress and a continued strategic focus on e-commerce and international markets.
The Company will issue its full year trading update for the year ending 31 December 2019 in the week commencing 13 January 2020.
Stephen Moon, Science in Sport's Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Our strategy is on-track and, in the year to 31 December 2019, we expect a record year of growth from PhD and another year of consistently high growth from SiS. The integration of PhD completed as planned and we are already seeing strong trading metrics from the PhD.com website in addition to significantly improved efficiencies in our new e-commerce fulfilment unit. Our in-house protein powder line was launched earlier this week, on time and under budget”
“The Board remains confident about the outlook for 2020 and beyond as we invest in our growth priorities of e-commerce and international markets. Gross margin remains robust, costs are tightly controlled and our cash position is healthy, allowing us to be confident in our long term growth trajectory.”