Science in Sport, the premium performance nutrition suppliers to the English Football Association and the 2021 NBA Champions, has secured a £3.5m funding package from Lombard, part of the NatWest Group in collaboration with PMD Business Finance.
The package enabled the Blackburn based business, which employs nearly 150 people in the local area, to fund a new gel production line to manufacture its patented world class performance enhancing energy gels. It has also helped the business streamline operations, bringing operations under one roof, increasing efficiency, and keeping jobs in the local area. The investment has also boosted the company’s green ambitions with energy efficient factory design including LED lighting and reducing transport miles. Supporting businesses looking to scale up their sustainable efforts is a key focus for Lombard.
The new Blackburn site houses the state-of-the-art production line for gels and powders – with the capacity to produce 127 million gels and 21 million powder units respectively – has capacity to support £200m Science in Sport’s revenues.
Introduced via PMD Business Finance in Q3 2021, Lombard quickly agreed terms to offer a pre-inception facility (in the form of an interest only loan) to fund stage payments to help build the unique gel equipment line. This allowed Science in Sport to reclaim costs incurred throughout 2021 & 2022 on this complex project before the loan converts into secured asset financing.
Science in Sport CEO, Stephen Moon, said: “The creation and installation of our new gel production line is a key milestone for us as a business, and will enable us to deliver on our long-term growth plans.
“Lombard and PMD really took time to understand our business and to provide an innovative financing approach to support the industry- leading gel line we designed. Their expertise was invaluable in supporting this transformational step for the business which will drive efficiency, sustainability and future growth.”
David Fitzpatrick, Corporate Relationship Director at Lombard, said: “Personally, I was a huge advocate of Science in Sport, having used their products myself, so I am thrilled to have been able to support the business to help further their ambitions to grow. PMD Business Finance introduced us to SIS and put together a comprehensive information pack that enabled us to deliver a quick solution for the client.
“Our ability to offer a pre-inception facility, meant that Science in Sport could recover the costs of staged payments agreed with the equipment manufacturer prior to the production line being built, delivered and operational on site, smoothing cash flow over what was a long lead time given the specialist nature of the assets.”
Science in Sport develops, manufactures and markets science-led performance nutrition products for professional athletes, sports, and health and fitness enthusiasts. The company’s brands are PhD, a premium active nutrition brand targeting people who are serious about their health and fitness, and Science in Sport (SiS), a brand trusted by more than 330 elite athletes and professional sports teams globally.
