Applied Nutrition paid $16m in cash Sunday to acquire the majority of assets from Nutrablend Group, a Buffalo, New York-based sports nutrition manufacturer, giving the Liverpool-area company its first US production footprint.
The deal hands Applied Nutrition a 107,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse facility in Buffalo, independently valued at about $7m, along with five powder filling lines, three stick-pack machines, and roughly $5m in inventory. The company said the facility can support up to $300m in annual US revenue.
Nutrablend's two in-house brands — Basic Supplements and GR8 Lifestyle — transfer with the acquisition and will operate under the AN Supps business. The white-label manufacturing arm will trade as AN Labz.
Around 100 Nutrablend employees join Applied Nutrition, including its management team and in-house R&D and design staff.
What it means for the business
Applied Nutrition has been building its US retail presence for several years, breaking into Walmart and The Vitamin Shoppe shortly after entering the market. Until now, it manufactured in the UK and relied on co-manufacturers in the US, absorbing cross-border freight, logistics and import duty costs in the process.
The Buffalo facility reduces those costs and cuts lead times for American customers. It also frees up manufacturing headroom at Applied Nutrition's UK base, which the company said will support further growth there.
CEO Thomas Ryder said the deal lets Applied launch new products in the US at the same pace it does in the UK — something it couldn't do when production was thousands of miles away.
"Importantly, it allows us to launch new products at the same pace as we do in the UK, improving our responsiveness to consumer and market demand and reinforcing a clear competitive advantage for Applied," Ryder said in a statement Monday.
The Mondelēz tie-up
Alongside the acquisition, Applied Nutrition announced a licensing agreement with Mondelēz International to produce co-branded sports nutrition products under the Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish names, sold under the AN Supps banner in the US and Canada.
The products go on sale in August. Initial distribution covers 2,200 Walmart stores and 1,300 GNC locations.
Upgraded outlook
Applied Nutrition, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2024, upgraded its full-year revenue forecast alongside the deal announcement. Excluding any Nutrablend contribution, the company now expects revenue of about £148m for the year ending July 31 — ahead of prior consensus estimates.
The Nutrablend acquisition is not expected to contribute meaningfully to earnings this financial year. The company said it anticipates the deal will be earnings-enhancing in its 2027 financial year, adding at least $30m in revenue at a high single-digit EBITDA margin. About 65% of that revenue is expected to come from white-label manufacturing.
Building in-market
Applied Nutrition is among a growing number of sports nutrition brands that have moved to establish manufacturing in markets they previously supplied from overseas, either through acquisition or contract manufacturing arrangements. The driver is consistent: local production cuts freight, import duties and lead times, and gives brands the speed to launch products at the same pace as their home markets.
Applied Nutrition had already built US retail distribution. The Buffalo facility removes the ceiling that cross-border manufacturing placed on how fast and cheaply it could serve that demand. The AN Labz white-label arm extends the logic further — by offering contract manufacturing to other North American and Latin American brands, Applied Nutrition can extract revenue from the facility regardless of how its own consumer brands perform quarter to quarter.