Science In Sport Share Discussion Threads

[amoore70] 03/8/2016 14:55

Really pleased with this, I actually bought at 71p so am not in profit like some who had bought at much levels but nearly back to break even. I always believed that this company will grow in the long term so glad I hung in there.

[davidlloyd] 03/8/2016 11:06

Whilst realistically it is only a small portion of the $7B that SIS will be targeting they are still very big numbers. The US market alone is 10x the UK, and all reachable through the platform of the internet. Significant growth opportunity is clearly there. Think this has a long way to go once the potential becomes more widely understood. That's my view anyway which is why I am here.:-)

DYOR, AIMHO etc. etc.

DL

[battlebus2] 03/8/2016 10:45

That market at worth $7 billion is incredible, huge potential for us.

[battlebus2] 03/8/2016 08:10

Yes excellent response to this mornings news.

[davidlloyd] 03/8/2016 08:04

Morning all- and a very good morning it is too. 😀
DL

[glasshalfull] 26/7/2016 14:57

Catching up with events.
Back after hols. No phone or distractions.

Pleased with he t/s and the amount of publicity SIS are achieving via the fantastic Team Sky performance at the Tour de France.



Science In Sport celebrates Team Sky tour win

Science in Sport (SiS) is celebrating the Tour de France victory by Team Sky rider, Chris Froome.

Completing the Tour de France in 89 hours 4 minutes and 48 seconds, Froome took the yellow jersey for the third time, after completing the 21 stage tour. Fuelling Froome and the team to victory in the three-week long competition was SiS, Team Sky’s Official Sports Nutrition Supplier.

It was SiS’ first Tour de France as part of Team Sky and throughout the Grand Tour, riders used SiS around the clock to aid hydration, energy, recovery and immunity. In total, Team Sky riders consumed a staggering:

· 570 GO Energy bars

· 580 GO Isotonic gels

· 180 GO Electrolyte gels

· 240 Go Energy+Caffeine gels

· 940 GO Electrolyte servings

· 180 REGO Rapid Recovery servings

· 210 Overnight protein servings

· 300 GO Hydro servings

Speaking about his success and the importance of nutrition, Froome said: “You push your body to the limit on a Grand Tour like the Tour de France, which is why nutrition is everything. Competing against the best cyclists in the world day after day is the greatest test anyone can endure, both mentally and physically, this is a team victory and not an individual achievement.

“Without the support of the other riders, coaches, staff and partners like SiS, this wouldn’t have been possible. Until you’re in this position, you don’t appreciate the importance of sports nutrition in aiding your performance and the marginal gains that it delivers.

“James and the team ensure that we are kept hydrated and remain fuelled with the right carbohydrates and proteins, as we compete in the greatest Grand Tour in the world. To win is a great achievement for everyone involved.”

Since becoming partners in January 2016, SiS nutrition experts have worked together with Dr James Morton, Head of Nutrition at Team Sky, to create bespoke products and tailored nutritional plans for each rider, to help the team achieve the marginal gains that have crowned them 2016 Tour champions.

Upon victory, James added: “Nutrition is the secret to success of any cycling team. Each product consumed during the Tour was specifically designed by SiS to benefit each athlete’s performance, enabling them to train harder, race faster and recover quicker than competitors”

Ashley Read, marketing director for SiS, said: “Science underpins everything we do and we’re really proud to have fuelled Team Sky to victory in our first year in partnership with them. We have a huge responsibility in fuelling the team to even more success in the years to come. Congratulations Team Sky!”

SiS products are manufactured in the UK at the company’s Innovation Centre in Lancashire. All SiS products are Informed-Sport tested and accredited; SiS worked closely with the HFL anti-doping laboratory to develop a world class evolved three-pronged testing system to minimise the risk of product contamination.

For more information, please visit www.scienceinsport.com.

---

Also interested to read first reviews of SISs products which have just been launched in the US.



Generally positive and note the focus on Chris Froome via the article. I reckon the Team Sky partnership was a masterstroke and will help propel sales of their products worldwide.

Cenkos note,

"...the Group has been taking share in the endurance sports nutrition category whilst the products continue to gain traction in new sports. With the Group’s international expansion and customarily important NPD contribution we make no change to our full year forecasts.

In our view the stock appears to be good value trading at 2016F EV/Sales 1.0x when M&A multiples are c 4x. With impressive top line growth already and several international markets providing potentially transformational growth opportunities, we reiterate our BUY recommendation.

Regards,
GHF

[battlebus2] 21/7/2016 09:42

Excellent response to this mornings update.

[drid123] 21/7/2016 08:16

RNS Number : 4747E
Science in Sport PLC
21 July 2016

SCIENCE IN SPORT PLC
("SiS" or the "Company)

Half Year Trading Update

Science in Sport plc (AIM: SIS), a leading sports nutrition company, is pleased to announce the following pre-close trading update ahead of its financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2016.

The Board is pleased to report another period of strong sales growth, and significant progress in execution of the Company's growth strategy.

Sales increased 24% to £6.48 million in the six months to 30 June 2016 compared with the same period for the previous year (H1 2015 £5.24 million). Sales growth was particularly strong via the Company's website and from third party online retailers. Growth in international markets was also strong, and the recently launched Australian business is trading in line with expectations.

The Company increased its database of customers on its own website significantly ahead of target. International expansion of the scienceinsport.com trading platform is to accelerate in the second half of the year, with July seeing websites launch in the new markets of USA and Germany, and native language websites launched in the existing markets of Italy and Holland.

Costs remain tightly controlled and the Company is in a strong financial position with over £6.5 million of net cash, leaving it well placed to exploit further growth opportunities as they arise. The Board remains confident of the outlook for the full year and beyond.

SiS intends to issue its half year results on Thursday 22 September 2016.

Stephen Moon, Science in Sport's CEO, said: "We have had a strong start to the year in a difficult market, and have made very good progress, particularly when many of our competitors have faced growth challenges."

"We have invested heavily in our e-commerce business and in international markets, and together with our strong innovation pipeline, we expect this to underpin the second half of the year."

[battlebus2] 03/6/2016 10:09

Miton are the recent buyers increasing their stake by 1 million to over 5 %....

[battlebus2] 10/5/2016 16:52

Buyers snapping these up on any weakness, bid down a matter of minutes lol

[pj 1] 06/5/2016 07:59

Im sure she will a great addition and come up smelling of Roses BB2

[battlebus2] 06/5/2016 07:13

New finance director appointed, seems to have calibre having worked at Hugo Boss UK as shadow director and director at Hugo Boss Ireland.

[mach100] 25/4/2016 19:31

I hope the London marathon looters didn't leave them behind and went for the water instead! That would the ultimate glass half full! AIMHO and Dyor!

[battlebus2] 13/4/2016 14:06

Yes good to see the shares spark into life, like you say nothing available.

[glasshalfull] 13/4/2016 13:37

Company demonstrating momentum as described in my post a fortnight ago. According to social media they were attending/supporting a number of marathons & endurance events across England at the weekend.

Finally signs of life in the shareprice. Been struggling to get stock during the last few sessions.

Also nice to see Downing continuing to increase their holding which after issue of equity now stands at 16.7%

Regards,
GHF

[kinbasket] 23/3/2016 09:05

I've also followed these since listing but don't hold. I've raced bikes and tri for a long time and am a big fan of the product. My issues are along the lines of what Yump posted above.

If you go here..

hxxp://www.wiggle.co.uk/cycle/nutrition/

That's where I buy mine. The problem is that it's always on discount. All the brands are always on discount. It is a hugely competitive market and I worry that SIS are buying market share but not necessarily brand loyalty. As soon as they try to run at a profit the punters will just choose whichever other brand is on discount.

SIS has good branding. "science" is a great buzzword for Triathletes in particular and the grey colouring looks Sciency and medical. The product is good too. I have an element of brand loyalty as I like to stick with a known brand to avoid upset stomachs during events. However, I have a couple of different bands that I know work and tend to pick based on price. (Plus Cliff bars are just nicer)

The other main issue I have is the move away from carb based nutrition for sports. A lot of athletes I know are moving towards different sugar free type diets and no longer use these products. Brands like Nakd (free from gluton wheat etc etc) are gaining traction. More boutique and niche brands are appearing and are proving popular, as are home made sugar free alternatives. (google flapjacks for athletes)

Anyhow. I still follow SIS and am willing to be convinced but I think GHFs takeover idea may be the only outer here in a market that is overcrowded in the extreme.

[yump] 22/3/2016 11:17

GHF
Thanks for that I'd missed the possible acquirers in your previous post.

The sports nutrition space is definitely right for consolidation, apart from SIS possibly being acquired. The place is awash with energy bars and gels.

That's confusing for consumers, which should be an opportunity.

Be useful to get hands on the accounts for some other companies eg. Kinetica to see what sort of profit is dropping out.

I'm assuming its very profitable, as they are paying affiliates double-digit commission. SIS about half.

[buywell3] 22/3/2016 10:14

Meantime the loss has grown

as the results show

[glasshalfull] 22/3/2016 10:11

Yump raises valid points in the post above.

I've added some commentary in previous posts during the last week which indicate that the sports nutrition market is forecast to grow in the UK to £527m by 2019 & also that the Australian market is larger than the UK where SIS have established a market during the last 2/3 years. So this 8% CAGR in the UK, coupled with expansion in Oz plus continuing to take market share... should all hopefully translate into accelerating growth.

Cenkos provide the following summary on today's results, indicating that turnover should grow by +27% this year (£12m) & +25% in 2017 (£15m). These forecasts only include "modest initial revenue projections" as infrastructure is put in place.

Personally, I would hope that the company achieve 30% revenue growth in 2016, & also in 2017 with Australia materially kicking in.

I'd also like to see profitability & acknowledged that they consulted with shareholders in 2015 to determine whether to go for top line growth at expense of short term profitability. Hence the fundraise in Oct 2015.

My hope is that we begin to see operational gearing kicking in as marketing & e-commerce costs grow at a slower rate & revenues expand. Gross margin has remained around 60% consistently.

SIS broker has this to say,

"...Having raised a net £8.2m (November 2015) management has substantial resources to further grow the brand and has outlined investment plans for expanding the international and ecommerce teams. We believe that SiS is an attractive proposition offering investors exposure to the growing sports nutrition market in the UK and a sizeable global expansion opportunity.

The space has attracted frequent corporate activity in the past decade with take-out multiples typically around 4x Revenue versus SiS currently trading at a historic 2015A EV/Sales multiple 1.3x. BUY.

Revenue increased 18% to £9.5m (2014PF: £8.0m) with the Group significantly outperforming the UK sports nutrition market which was up 8% last year. There was a small increase in adjusted operating losses to £251k (£192k) with ongoing investment in sales and marketing whilst adjusted loss per share 1.4p was 0.4p better than our forecast, with the depreciation and amortisation charge lower than expected.

Management has now outlined the investment required to support its growth strategy, with a focus on driving its ecommerce business and the new international markets. In Australia SiS now has a fully owned subsidiary and, although early days, we believe it is making good progress; an office is now in place to support the full US launch with third party distribution agreements being discussed.

Accordingly we now estimate EBITDA losses of c£0.6m for this year and next (previous forecast £0.3m and £0.1m) as infrastructure is put in place with only modest initial revenue projections. We are also increasing our capital expenditure forecast this year by c£100k to reflect expansion of the ecommerce operation at the Group’s production facilities in Nelson, Lancashire.

As a high growth consumer brand - with rapidly expanding ecommerce and international presence - we consider SiS to be highly attractive. The Group has made a ‘strong start’ to the year and has significant momentum going into the important Q2 trading period with a number of additional growth drivers still to come through."

---

If revenue growth of 25%-30% compound is achievable then I'm sure there are quite a few suitors who will come calling. In an earlier post I provided the names of several acquisitors who may wish to add the brand & to a larger portfolio. Global giants such as GlaxoSmithKline & Reckitt Benckiser have done just that in recent years.

Kind regards,
GHF

[yump] 22/3/2016 09:28

I'm going to have a look back at expenses since float. Cost of sales is pretty static % of sales throughout.

There is a lot of emphasis on top line growth in the statements and brand building. Also operational gearing is mentioned, but I don't see any evidence of that at all. Which is a worry if the BOD don't have profitability in mind - unless the whole point is to build it up for a potential sale.

One important statistic is that the sports nutrition market is (only) growing at 8%. So SIS depends on grabbing market share to grow, not on market growth. That costs, as is apparent.

So the key issue is whether there is, isn't or might be operational gearing at some point.

At float, they weren't making a profit with their existing mainly UK business, which has been running for quite a few years. So how is that going to happen globally ? Economies of scale in production would do it. But cost of sales % is not dropping.

Can they get it without a constant increase in marketing spend ? Possibly, but they don't seem to want to go into that - there's a lot of talk about brand building. Admin. costs might possibly level out a bit though.

At the moment I read it as a very enthusiastic board intent on building a global brand, which is entirely possible, but I'm not sure whether they are bothered much by profitability. If they are, I think they should mention it.

Who are the suiters for SIS I wonder ?