Page 5 - Food&Drink August 2022 magazine

NEWS
Operation Fly Formula sees Bubs’ profits soar
BUBS Australia’s FY22 Q4 gross revenue was up 278 per cent to $48.1 million following the launch of Operation Fly Formula, which committed the delivery of 1.25 million tins of its entire formula range to the US.
Bubs founder and CEO Kristy Carr (pictured) said the last quarter has seen the company reach critical mass due to growth across Australia, China, and the US.
“This business diversification and increased scale of our most profitable products and channels has flowed through to our operating margins, delivering profitability for the full year (excluding non-cash equity compensation expenses),” Carr said.
SNAPSHOT
• H2 gross revenue $65.7m, up 168% pcp, up 71% HoH;
• FY22 gross revenue $104.2m, up 123% pcp (more than double FY21: $46.8m);
• Australia: up 15% pcp, contributing 11% of quarterly sales;
• China: up 523% pcp, contributing 64%
of quarterly sales. Corporate daigou sales were up 1,201% pcp and CBEC sales were up 20% pcp; and
• International: up 265% pcp, contributing 25% of quarterly sales.
In the US, Bubs is now sold in more than 5400
storesin34statesthroughmajorretailersincluding
Bubs founder and CEO Kristy Carr with the first shipment bound for the US.
Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway, and Target. On the domestic front, Bubs said it was the
number one goat infant formula brand in Australia and the fastest growing infant formula manufacturer across Woolworths, Coles, and Chemist Warehouse.
After Covid largely decimated the daigou market, Bubs said corporate daigou sales are at an “all-time high”.
“The strategic rethink about our daigou business triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent signing of an equity alliance with Alpha Group, our largest corporate daigou partner, has been rewarded with rapid growth in corporate daigou sales which now stand at a record high, growing thirteen-fold in Q4 FY22 compared to the same periodprioryear,”Carrsaid. ✷
A Great Wrap for food waste
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CARE A2+ JOINS FORMULA FLIGHTS Australian company Care A2+ joined Bubs Australia and Bellamy’s in securing USA FDA approval to distribute infant formula in the US to help ease shortages.
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HALO SECURES COLES CONTRACT Health and wellness product manufacture Halo Food Co has secured a private label contract with Coles worth $9.5 million over two years.
NEW DAN MURPHY’S MD Dan Murphy’s chief strategy officer Agnieszka (Agi) Pfeiffer-Smith will move into the managing director role, replacing Alex Freudmann who resigned in May.
MELBOURNE-BASED
material sciences start-up Great Wrap has landed international investment to innovate materials and scale up production of its upcycled compostable stretch wrap for home and industrial use.
Great Wrap closed its
Series A funding round achieving a total raise of
$24 million, with funds going towards co-founders Jordy and Julia Kay (pictured) commercialising the company's full range of compostable wraps – Cling Wrap, Catering Wrap and Pallet Wrap.
The company first commercialised its wrap in 2020, following a successful pilot trial of a stretch wrap made from potato processing
waste with the performance properties of conventional plastic stretch wrap, but importantly, that breaks down to carbon and water. It moved into its first facility in 2021.
The first step for Great Wrap has been to expand into a new 12,000 square metre facility in Tullamarine, with the capacity to manufacture 30,000 tonnes of compostable stretch wrap by the
Great Wrap founders Julia and Jordy Kay.
end of 2023, which will make the company Australia’s largest stretch wrap manufacturer.
The new factory marks phase one in the shift to total vertical integration, enabling Great Wrap
to process local waste from one of Australia's largest potato processors.
Phase two will see the commissioning of a first-of its kind biorefinery on site, to produce the biopolymer PHA from which the wrap is made. It's expected to be completed in 2023 and have the capacity to upcycle nearly 50,000 tonnes of local potato waste annually.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | August 2022 | Food&Drink business | 5