‘Human fuel’ maker triples profits on Ozempic boom

Meal replacement company Huel cashes in on new generation on weight loss drugs

Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Huel, the meal replacement maker known for powdered food and “ready to drink” shakes, has posted a surge in profits as it attracts a new generation of customers taking weight loss drugs.
The Hertfordshire-based company said profits almost trebled in the year to August, rising 194pc to £13.8m compared with a year earlier. Revenues increased by 16pc to £214m.
The company, once seen as the preserve of time-poor young men unwilling or unable to cook dinner, has branched out into ready meals and drinks and has also broadened its audience to female customers and patients on weight-loss drugs.
Huel, a portmanteau of “human” and “fuel”, was founded by marketing entrepreneur Julian Hearn after he was bombarded with conflicting diet advice while running a fitness start-up.
It is best known for selling a vegan flavoured powder made of ground oats, coconut, peas, rice and seeds that consumers mix with water to replace meals and is described by the company as “nutritionally complete”.
However, Huel has expanded its range of products in recent years and it now sells shakes, nutrition bars and ready meals which have become a fixture on supermarket shelves.
James McMaster, the company’s chief executive, said this had helped it appeal to a wider swathe of health-conscious consumers and that the rise of Ozempic, the diabetes drug used off-label for weight loss, had helped boost sales.
The drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, work by suppressing people’s appetites, meaning patients often turn to convenient meal replacements to ensure they are consuming nutrients, Mr McMaster told the Financial Times.
“We get people increasingly coming to us saying, ‘I need Huel in my diet after GLP-1’ … generally you want to eat less, and what you do eat needs to be more nutritious,” he said.
The company said it had now sold more than 400m “servings” and that its products were available in 25,000 stores. 
Huel counts Jonathan Ross and the actor Idris Elbas among its investors, alongside Steven Bartlett, the podcaster and former Dragons’ Den investor who also sits on the company’s board. Adverts for Huel featuring Mr Bartlett were banned earlier this year for failing to disclose a commercial relationship.
Huel has grown in popularity partly down to close partnerships with “Hueligan” influencers including Russ Cook, the 27-year-old “hardest geezer” who this year ran 10,100 miles up the length of Africa.
Mr Hearn, who remains the company’s chief marketing officer, owns 56pc of the company, according to start-up data firm Beauhurst. The company was valued at £440m in a funding round in 2022.
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email