By Ali Lyon
Performance supplement manufacturer Applied Nutrition has stepped up its plans for a half-a-billion pound float on the London Stock Exchange by meeting over 25 City fund managers in recent weeks.
The protein brand, which is backed by JD Sports and appointed AJ Bell founder Andy Bell chairman in February, could float as soon as October this year and has already started work with advisers Deutsche Numis.
“We’re navigating our way to an IPO that’d be in London,” Applied Nutrition founder Tom Ryder told City A.M. in an interview. “We’re looking at our options for that.”
An IPO would seal the supplement maker’s meteoric rise. In 2014, 40-year-old Ryder founded it initially as a retailer before incorporating production and formulation facilities.
“Early 2015, I moved production from Canada to a well-known white label manufacturer in Europe, which led me to thoughts of potentially moving in-house,” Ryder said of the company’s founding story. “So I brought in consultants to show me what I would need… and from there, we just grew our capabilities.”
The firm has since expanded its headquarters in Liverpool, keeping its formulation, production, and shipping on one site, which has allowed it to adapt to changing preferences faster, Ryder said.
“We took warehouses over the road to expand production capability… [This allowed us to] see what was trending, what ingredients were starting to take off, and quickly implement those in products sold,” he added.
Applied Nutrition’s prospective IPO also represents another sign that new life is returning to London’s ailing stock market.
The City has been hampered by a wave of takeovers and delistings, and it has struggled to attract companies to go public in the UK, with many favouring New York or Europe instead.
But last week, Cambridge-based computer firm Raspberry Pi confirmed it was planning a UK IPO in a major boost to the market.
It also emerged last week London was the preferred option for a listing by fast-fashion giant Shein, and Sky News reported that California-based wound care specialist Advanced Oxygen Therapy Inc is drawing up plans to raise around £39.5m on the AIM market.
