James McMaster, CEO of Huel
Results Highlights
● Revenue up 43% to £103m as demand for nutritionally complete, sustainable food continues to build
● Strong momentum across all markets: UK sales +45%, US +42%, ROW +43%
● 30% increase in active customer base reflecting strong retention despite covid restrictions and a subsequent acceleration in new customers as restrictions lifted
● Underlying EBITDA* increased £0.7m to £2.0m whilst making significant investment into customer acquisition, product innovation and team expansion Operational Highlights
● Continued product innovation with successful launch of ‘Hot & Savoury’ as Huel’s first warm, savoury meal option, now selling over 10m meals since launch
● Delivered resilient operational performance through supply chain pressures; increased investment into inventory to support sales trajectory despite disruption
● New local fulfilment centre opened in Poland to drive improved customer proposition and cost efficiency in EU
James McMaster, CEO of Huel, said: “This has been another strong year of growth for Huel, with sales passing the £100m mark for the first time. We have seen great momentum across all of our markets as customers globally choose Huel for a healthy and sustainable meal.
“Innovation is at the heart of our business so we’re delighted with how customers reacted to the launch of ‘Hot & Savoury’ and we’re looking forward to bringing more exciting innovations to market.
“Our momentum has continued into the new financial year, both in the strength of our trading performance and in how we set the business up for continued growth. I am delighted to welcome Robyn Perriss to our Board as a Non-Executive Director as we continue to strengthen all aspects of our business.
“As we look to 2022 and beyond, I am confident that the opportunities for Huel are significant. We face an unsustainable food system, with a huge carbon footprint and significant food waste. At the same time, obesity is high and yet almost 1bn people globally are undernourished.
*Underlying EBITDA is EBITDA before share based payment charge
“That backdrop is why Huel was founded – to provide food that prioritises nutrition, has minimal environmental impact and is convenient and affordable. We’re proud to have now supplied more than 200 million meals since we launched in 2015 and we believe Huel’s mission leaves the business well placed for long-term future growth.”
Strategic Focus
Huel’s mission is to make nutritionally complete, convenient, affordable food with minimal impact on animals and the environment. All of our products are plant based, positioning them well as customers become increasingly aware of the carbon footprint of their food calories. Huel has grown at pace since it launched in 2015 with a nutritionally complete powder product. The range has expanded to six product options and has now sold over 200 million meals to date.
We believe the opportunity ahead for Huel is substantial as customer demand for healthy, plant- based food continues to develop and our strategic priorities form the basis of our growth strategy. We made good progress against each of these during the year:
Continuous Product Innovation
Huel launched in 2015 with a vanilla powder product. Since then, we have continued to innovate and expand the customer offer. The range now includes a lower carbohydrate powder choice, a complete protein powder, snack bars and a bottled ready to drink (RTD) option to support our customers’ diet choices and lifestyles. FY21 saw the launch of ‘Hot & Savoury’ which developed the customer offer to include a warm, savoury, grain-based meal for the first time and helped Huel appeal to a wider customer base. The response to ‘Hot & Savoury’ was strong with over 10 million meals now sold since launch.
Drive Global Growth
We saw strong growth in the UK as revenue grew 45% during the year. Within the UK, our customer proposition is at its most advanced, with our distribution network supporting next day delivery and RTD in major supermarkets supporting greatest brand awareness.
Huel launched into the US four years ago with a direct-to-consumer site. Subsequent localised production and fulfilment across three sites has strengthened our customer proposition and supported ongoing growth within the region as our US business grew a further 42% during the year.
Our ROW business, covering EU territories and Japan, grew 43% during the year. Growth within the EU continued at pace and was supported by our most recent fulfilment centre in Poland. Huel launched into Japan in 2019 with a local language site reflective of the encouraging customer momentum to date; we are now focussed on further improving our proposition with in-country fulfilment.
Grow Hueligan Community
Huel has grown an engaged community of customers built on shared values and brand affinity, our Hueligans. Communicating authentically, producing content that resonates and prioritising genuine customer engagement have been key to our success and remain at the centre of our brand. Despite covid restrictions reducing the need for convenience, we saw strong customer retention throughout the year as existing customers continued to choose Huel for a healthy, sustainable and affordable meal.
Our targeted approach to investment in customer acquisition has supported strong growth in our active customer base, which grew 30% in the year. During the year, we began to experiment with greater investment in wider digital marketing channels, which will be supportive of building broader awareness and reaching new customers globally.
Strengthen the Foundations
Huel has grown at pace since launch six years ago and we are focussed on building a business with the people, systems and infrastructure to sustainably support our future growth ambitions. Our team has now grown to over 200 people based across four offices in the UK and US. As we continue to grow, we are working to build increasing efficiency into the way we operate and to leverage the benefits that come with greater scale.
Board Appointment
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Robyn Perriss to our Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director in April 2022. Robyn brings significant experience from her time in the technology, consumer and media industries. Robyn was CFO of Rightmove for 12 years, leading the business through four fold growth during her tenure. This experience helping to lead a high growth, digitally disruptive business will be particularly valuable to us as we continue to scale Huel. Robyn is also currently a Non-Executive Director at Dr Martens plc, Softcat plc and Next 15 Communications Group plc.
Outlook
We believe the global opportunity ahead for Huel is significant as demand for healthy, convenient, affordable and plant-based meals continues to build. We are pleased with the strong performance we delivered in FY21, despite covid restrictions reducing the need for convenience. We have continued with good momentum into FY22 and remain focussed on delivery against our strategic priorities to grow our business by reaching new customers globally and continuing to develop the way our customers use Huel.
