“Dramatically changed” sports nutrition sector causes Sci-Mx to close, Supreme Imports acquires stock and brand name

07 Jul 2021 --- UK food manufacturer Samworth Brothers is closing its sports nutrition business Sci-Mx Nutrition due to “several years” of loss-making.

“The sports nutrition sector has changed dramatically over the last few years,” says Sci-Mx in a public statement. “We have concluded that the business is not at a scale where we can make it work. The levels of investment that would be needed to achieve this do not make good economic sense.” 

In turn, FMCG manufacturer and supplier Supreme Imports has purchased £1.3 million (US$1.8 million) Sci-Mx and Pro2Go warehouse stock. Supreme also now owns the Sci-Mx brand name, which it can use in the future.

Supreme CEO Sandy Chadha tells NutritionInsight the move aligns with Supreme’s goal to grow its Sports Nutrition & Wellness category. “The stock and brands will be quickly integrated into our business leveraging our existing facilities and team,” she says. 

“We anticipate further consolidation in the industry, which Supreme is set to benefit from,” Chadha continues. 

“We have concluded that the business is not at a scale where we can make it work,” Sci-Mx says in a public statement.Founded in 2015, Sci-Mx will close on July 31. 

A smooth transition?
Samworth Brothers’ Sci-Mx closing comes despite “strong levels of investment and a highly committed team.” 

“We are doing everything we can to support Sci-Mx colleagues to find suitable alternative roles, including offering opportunities for redeployment to other Samworth Brothers business locations. It is never an easy decision to close a business,” reads the company statement.

Aiming to leverage the Sci-Mx brand across its customer base, Supreme sells into over 10,000 branded retail outlets and thousands of independent stores “on a regular basis.”

“This significant retail footprint coupled with our distribution channels allows Supreme to dispatch over 2,000 daily orders across our range of fast-moving consumer products,” Chadha details.

Changing market
As the sports nutrition sector continues to move mainstream, there have indeed been several shifts in the arena. 

According to Innova Market Insights, twice as many US consumers said they increased (40 percent) versus decreased (17 percent) sports nutrition consumption in 2020. 

Sports nutrition products increasingly feature focus and energy claims, including products designed specifically for digital sports enthusiasts and gamers. Moreover, about 9 percent of all sports powders and protein RTD launches in 2020 were plant-based. 

“We believe [the sports nutrition market] is a very exciting segment for Supreme driven by our ability to cross-sell products to existing customers,” Chadha explains.

“This transaction follows our acquisition of protein snacks business Battle Bites – which has proved very successful, alongside the exciting growth opportunity for our vitamin and supplement products.”

The Sci-Mx transaction follows Supreme’s “very successful” Battle Bites acquisition.Overall, Innova Market Insights estimates US 2020 sports nutrition sales at US$17.9 billion, with value and volume sales up 6 percent since 2016. Per capita consumption is expected to grow at 5.4 percent per year through 2022.

Meanwhile, EMEA is the most active region for Sports Nutrition development, taking a 65.4 percent share of the global total in 2020, followed by North America with 22 percent, Australasia with 8.2 percent and Latin America with 4.4 percent. 

Keeping up with innovation
The sports nutrition market continues to crowd. Despite regional and demographic consumer groups maturing, companies are increasingly finding it challenging to keep pace with NPD and product positionings.

This trend is not specific to the sports arena, but branches out to the active and performance nutrition segments as well.

Regardless, the market holds significant potential, as evidenced by Eat Beyond, Mondelēz International and Nestlé Health Science moving into the segment.

By Anni Schleicher