Vitamin giant Vitabiotics sees sales jump towards £200m as profits swell

Vitabiotics, the vitamin giant led by former Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani, has seen a surge in sales towards the £200m mark during its latest financial year, with profits also on the rise. The London-based firm reported sales of £196.4m for 2023, according to accounts filed with Companies House well past the 30 September deadline.

This is an increase from the previous turnover of £174.2m in 2022. In the UK, Vitabiotics’ sales rose from £65.8m to £78.1m and from £108.4m to £118.3m internationally, as reported by City AM.

The results also reveal that the company’s pre-tax profit increased from £50.4m to £55.2m over the 12 months. Vitabiotics' accounts for 2024 are expected to be filed with Companies House by the end of September 2025.

The company was established in 1971 by Kartar Lalvani and is currently managed by his son, Tej Lalvani, who featured on Dragons’ Den from 2017 to 2021. A statement approved by the board said: "The company’s overall sales figure of £196.5m reflects an impressive growth of 13 per cent in 2023."

"UK national accounts sales delivered a substantial growth of 18 per cent, representing incremental sales of £12.4m, despite the company’s existing high share of the VMS [vitamins, minerals and supplements] market in the UK and the cost-of-living crisis."

"The positive trend towards online sales continued strongly, with a growth in e-commerce sales of 37 per cent."

"This helped to deliver a final UK turnover [of] £78.2m and the company maintained its position as the largest UK vitamin company by value sales."

"Performance in key export markets remained strong, driven by exceptional growth in the Middle East and Asia, achieving a final export turnover of over £118.3m."

"In Europe, Ukraine achieved a remarkable and commendable 84 per cent growth despite the devastating situation on the ground."

"China [became] the company’s biggest overall export market with a growth of 33 per cent despite economic challenges in the region."

"Market rollouts continued in 2023, notably with Wellman Conception Max, as well as the new launch of Pefectil Biotherpy Oil, an exciting development in the UK’s leading beauty supplement brand to expand into topical skincare."