Yahoo News North West vape supplier Supreme hails 'outstanding' year as profits double
The CEO of North West vape supplier Supreme Plc has hailed an “outstanding” set of full year results against a challenging background, as revenues rose 42% to £221m.
The Manchester based manufacturer, supplier, and brand owner of wholesale batteries, lighting, vaping, sports nutrition, soft drink and wellness products has posted full year results for the year ended March 31 2024 in which pre-tax profit more than doubled to £30.1m and adjusted Ebitda rose 96% to £38.1m.
The firm – which has customers including B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, Tesco, Sainsburys, Amazon, The Range, Aldi and the HM Prison & Probation Service – said it saw strong trading across all divisions, with record levels of cash generated from its operations. At the year end it was entirely bank debt-free, with available borrowing facilities of £55m but none drawn down.
During the year the company consolidated its warehousing operations at Ark, the group’s new 167,000 sqft principal warehouse and distribution centre, which it said will facilitate both organic and acquisitive growth.
It also announced a number of proactive measures to combat underage vaping, including reducing the use of colour in 88Vape packaging and discontinuing the use of coloured hardware for all of the brand’s disposables. A final dividend of 3.2p per share will be issued, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM in September, following on from an interim dividend of 1.5p per share which was paid during the year.
Following the year end, the company snapped up Sunderland soft drinks company Clearly Drinks in a £15m deal, which it said provides product diversification and incremental earnings immediately for the group.
Sandy Chadha, chief executive officer of Supreme, said: “Supreme has delivered an outstanding financial performance across the period, with strong revenue growth across all five of our divisions. Set against a challenging backdrop, we continue to be committed to providing high-quality, high-value products to both retailers and our customers.
“Looking at our vaping business, we are fully committed to doing what we can to support the eradication of underage vaping so that the industry can get back to its core objective: helping adult smokers find an affordable, sustainable, and safer alternative to smoking.
"I am not concerned that the Government’s vaping proposals will have any long-term impact on Supreme as a responsible manufacturer and distributor with resources and experience to adapt to potential new market dynamics. Operationally and financially, we are in an excellent position to expand organically and, as we’ve successfully demonstrated in the past (and post-period end with the Clearly Drinks acquisition), we continue to evaluate complementary acquisitions.
“We’ve made a very positive start to the current financial year, and I look forward to updating all our stakeholders later this year on our continued progress.”
