Huel sales surged past £200m last year as demand for meal replacement options remained resilient.
Revenue rose 16% to £214m in the year to 31 July 2024 while pre-tax profits tripled from £4.7m to £13.8m, as the company benefited from improved economies of scale, newfound efficiencies and new product development.
“This year has been transformative as we scale up and provide a wider range of convenient nutrition products in over 90 countries,” said CEO James McMaster.
Huel launched several new products last year including its Black Edition ready-to-drink range, a new range of nutritional bars, and a Daily Greens range.
But Huel’s growth was mostly driven by growing retail distribution. It is now sold in over 25,000 stores in over 90 countries, up from 11,000 the year before.
More than half of Huel’s sales are in the UK which is also its fastest-growing market, up 17% to £110m last year. The US was worth £67m, while Europe accounted for £31m. Other countries make up just 3% of Huel’s sales.
Huel opened its first-ever in-house factory in Milton Keynes in August after a £7m investment. Huel said the costs of the factory were fully absorbed through its cashflow, meaning it still had a cash balance of £25m even after the site was paid for.
The factory is an important milestone for Huel and will give it further opportunities to grow margin and launch new products, McMaster said.
“The future for Huel is bright. We are motivated by playing our part in tackling some of the biggest issues facing society today – unhealthy eating and obesity, food waste and greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.
However, Huel’s financial success impacted on its sustainability progress, with Huel’s carbon footprint – both total emissions and intensity ratios – rising significantly. This was due “to the heightened travel, driven by [Huel’s] expanding multi-geographical operations”, the company said.
It means that on average, Huel products now contribute 42% more carbon emissions than they did a year ago – a total of 3.1 tonnes of carbon for every million pounds in revenue.
Huel says there is less than 500g CO2 in each of its products. By comparison, a home-made ham and cheese sandwich contains between 400g and 800g of CO2, according to a study at Manchester University, or about twice that for a shop-bought equivalent.
This year, Huel became the second company to receive investment from Morgan Stanley’s 1GT fund, which has set itself the target of removing one gigaton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Huel is committed to all meals being in line with targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and claims its meals contribute 50% less carbon footprint than the average US meal.
Huel has also attracated controversy over its advertising claims. Founder Julian Hearn was rebuked by the ASA for claiming that its new Daily Greens range in the UK and the US was “equally good, or in my eyes better” than other green foods.
And two Huel adverts featuring entrepreneur Steven Bartlett were judged by the ASA as “likely to mislead” for failing to declare Bartlett was on the board of the company. Bartlett joined as non-executive director in March 2021 and was paid over £700k last year.
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