Finance Yorkshire backed health company targets £5m turnover
An award-winning health supplements business is targeting sales of more than £5m this year as demand grows for its innovative products at home and abroad.
BetterYou, based in Barnsley, supplies a range of supplements including oral vitamin sprays and transdermal magnesium to independent retailers, health stores and pharmacies across the UK.
It has a long association with Holland & Barrett and is now supplying the likes of Fortnum & Mason, Liberty London and Lloyds Pharmacy.
Employing almost 30 people at Shortwood Business Park, the company also exports to more than 30 countries and expects international sales – which currently account for 35% of its business – to grow further.
Finance Yorkshire has supported BetterYou since its early stages and has invested a total £225,000 in the company.
Robin Whitbread, CEO of BetterYou, said the investment from Finance Yorkshire has been instrumental in its year-on-year growth as well as supporting the move to its larger premises from its previous base in Chapeltown.
Robin said: “The investment support from Finance Yorkshire has been very timely, providing us with the working capital to invest in a number of areas including recruitment and new product development, which is the lifeblood of our business.
“When Finance Yorkshire first invested in 2012, we had 12 staff and now we have 28. We have also recently taken on a second unit at Shortwood to increase our warehouse capacity and create more office space.”
BetterYou was founded in 2007 by managing director Andrew Thomas to specialise in the research and development of health supplements which are sprayed directly onto the skin or into the mouth. Its new,Turmeric Oral Spray, which is a world first, recently won Best New Health and Nutrition Product at the Natural and Organic Awards 2017.
Robin said: “The delivery mechanism of our products is what makes them very innovative and efficacious. As well as developing new products we are also redeveloping some of our existing products in response to consumer feedback.
“We also invest heavily in trialling and testing our products to guarantee the absorption. We are proud to be currently working with the University of Sheffield looking at a randomized control trial, investigating how supplementing vitamin D affects the quality of life for irritable bowel syndrome sufferers.”
BetterYou has recruited Greg Weatherhead as its new product development manager and has moved manufacturers in the UK to ensure production of its supplements is fully automated and more efficient.
Alex McWhirter, chief executive of Finance Yorkshire, said: “BetterYou is a fantastic example of a business which has developed and grown through research and innovation to become a multi-million-pound international brand.
“Our investment support has been pivotal for the company at crucial stages in its growth strategy and it is very pleasing to see its expansion, including the creation of jobs in the Yorkshire region.”
Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire