{"id":591023,"date":"2026-08-12T14:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/591023\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:54:10","slug":"its-a-great-time-irish-drinks-company-vithit-sold-for-e75m-to-the-firm-behind-vimto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/591023\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s a great time’: Irish drinks company VitHit sold for \u20ac75m to the firm behind Vimto"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRISH DRINKS COMPANY VitHit has been sold for \u20ac75 million to the firm behind Vimto.<\/p>\n

VitHit was founded in 2000 by former rugby player Gary Lavin.<\/p>\n

It was this week acquired by Nichols, the firm behind Vimto, for \u20ac75 million.<\/p>\n

As part of the deal, Nichols will retain VitHit\u2019s Dublin office.<\/p>\n

Nichols added that it will be \u201csupported by its management team, some of whom will step away after a smooth transition, while the chair and founder, Gary Lavin, will step down from day one\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a post on LinkedIn,<\/a> Lavin remarked that the \u201ccompany I started in 2000 from a van is finally sold\u201d.<\/p>\n

He described Nichols as a \u201csuper bunch\u201d and said the company will \u201cgive it the investment and distribution we\u2019ve always craved\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great time for me, my wife and CMO Rachael, Troy my brother and CEO and all the VitHit team who fought so hard with us over the years,\u201d Lavin added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had so many ups and downs. The highs are sky high, but the lows are pretty low.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been skinned alive by corporations either ignoring our success or trying to replicate it, but that\u2019s just spurred us on to punch back harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had incredibly low staff turnover, as these great people always knew, their wins were theirs alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lavin also thanked Irish wholesaler BWG Foods, \u201cwho gave me my first break\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said VitHit is currently selling 40 million plus units per year, is the 7th biggest selling soft drink in Ireland, and the top vitamin drink in the UK.<\/p>\n

He added that one of his \u201cproudest achievements\u201d is in having \u201cnever taking outside funding\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEntrepreneurs always think in the future tense, as we believe tomorrow, things will get better,\u201d said Lavin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day has now come, and I\u2019m gonna try to live in the moment. Tomorrows come a bit fast these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, Nichols said it was acquiring VitHit on a debt-free, cash-free basis.<\/p>\n

It described VitHit as an \u201cexcellent strategic fit for Nichols given its leading market positions, established profitability and significant growth opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"1786341739300\"
\n Nichols CEO Andrew Milne announcing the acquisution Nichols<\/p>\n

Nichols\n<\/p>\n

For the financial year ended on 31 December, VitHit generated revenue of \u20ac26.5 million, an adjusted operating profit of \u20ac4.2 million.<\/p>\n

Nichols added that the acquisition of \u201crepresents a significant strategic milestone and is consistent with the Group\u2019s strategic plan to selectively invest in differentiated soft drinks brands\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nichols said the acquisition will offer it a \u201cconsiderably strengthened position within the significant and growing health and wellness segment of the soft drinks market\u201d.<\/p>\n

It further said that the acquisition is \u201cexpected to be immediately earnings enhancing and to generate returns comfortably in excess of the cost of capital\u201d.<\/p>\n

The acquisition was funded through cash on Nichols\u2019 balance sheet.<\/p>\n

Andrew Milne, CEO of Nichols, remarked that VitHit is \u201csupported by high levels of customer loyalty and \u2013 above all \u2013 a great tasting portfolio of functional soft drinks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to welcome the VITHIT team to Nichols and look forward to working together to realise the significant opportunities ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRISH DRINKS COMPANY VitHit has been sold for \u20ac75 million to the firm behind Vimto. VitHit was founded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,615,249841,61,60,249842,249843,249844],"class_list":["post-591023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin","tag-gary-lavin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nichols","tag-vimto","tag-vithit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}