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The owner of Typhoo tea has snapped up SlimFast’s UK and European business in a £20.1m deal as it seeks to expand in the weight management market despite fierce competition from GLP-1 weight-loss jabs.
The Irish nutrition and food company Glanbia has sold the low-calorie meal replacement shakes business to the British company Supreme after putting it up for sale earlier this year. Sales at the European operations have dropped, weighing on stronger trading in the US.
The SlimFast brand has come under mounting pressure from the rapid growth of weight-loss drug blockbusters such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, made by the pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly respectively.
SlimFast was launched in Florida in 1977 by S Daniel Abraham, who died in June at the age of 100. Sales took off in the late 1980s when diet culture became popular, and the former LA Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda appeared in SlimFast television adverts.
The brand was sold in 2000 to Unilever for £1.4bn and changed hands again later. Unilever sold it in 2014 to the US private equity firm Kainos Capital, after sales began to fall sharply from 2003 when the Atkins diet craze hit the US, its biggest market. Kainos offloaded SlimFast to Glanbia for $350m (£261m) four years later.
The Manchester-based consumer goods company Supreme, which bought the Typhoo tea brand out of administration last year and also makes batteries and vaping products, said the acquisition would fit well into its drinks and wellness division.
It said the deal would help to expand its presence in the weight management market – a market that is projected to reach £1.5bn by 2027.
Sandy Chadha, its chief executive, said: “We are excited to have acquired such an iconic brand in SlimFast, which we believe is highly complementary to our existing drinks and wellness category.
“Under our ownership and track record for product innovation, we believe the commercial opportunities to both enhance and broaden SlimFast’s market presence makes it an ideal addition to our business.”
Glanbia put the business up for sale in February. Its chief financial officer, Mark Garvey, said at the time: “We’ve decided to move on because we believe there is a significant change in how weight management is being managed by our consumers.”
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SlimFast UK and Europe made sales of £25.5m and an estimated pre-tax profit of £6m-£7m last year. It says its products contain vitamin, minerals and protein, and they come in flavours such as strawberry, cafe latte and chocolate. The powders are mixed with skimmed milk to make shakes. It also sells drinks and snacks.
It is the latest acquisition designed to strengthen Supreme’s drinks portfolio. To diversify its vapes and batteries business, the company acquired Clearly Drinks, a UK maker of spring water and soft drinks dating back to 1885, in June 2024, followed by the 122-year-old Typhoo last year.
