Danone has snapped up UK meal-replacement business Huel.
Hertfordshire-based Huel, set up in 2014, centres on ready-to-drink shakes but also markets products including powders and snack bars.
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“What they have achieved in the fast-growing complete nutrition space fully resonates with Danone’s mission of delivering health through food,” Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The Financial Times put the purchase price at about €1bn ($1.15bn). Just Food has approached Danone for comment.
Set up in 2014 by entrepreneur Julian Hearn and former NHS dietician James Collier, Huel – a portmanteau of human fuel – sells its plant-based products in the UK, continental Europe and the US.
The company started out as a direct-to-consumer business but now also markets its products through bricks-and-mortar retail outlets.
Past investors have included VC firm Highland Europe and investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Huel CEO James McMaster, who joined the business in 2017, said the sale to Danone “marks the next step” for the company.
He added: “We’ve spent ten years building a brand with a positive impact on people’s health. We’ve grown into an omnichannel business with a strong direct-to-consumer foundation, an expanding international footprint and a retail business that’s scaling quickly.
“With Danone, we will now have the infrastructure, distribution and R&D capability to go further, into new markets and to more people, as demand for convenient, complete nutrition continues to grow.”
Huel, which employs around 350 staff, has a manufacturing site and warehouse in the English city of Milton Keynes.
The most recent set of Huel accounts available at Companies House, the UK business register, show the firm’s revenue stood at £214m ($284.2m) for the 12 months to 31 July 2024, up 16% on a year earlier.
Pre-tax profits almost trebled to £13.8m. Huel recorded an adjusted EBITDA of £18.2m, up 86% on the 12 months to the end of July 2023. Its profit for the year was £13.1m, versus £2.2m in the previous 12 months.
Huel’s accounts for the year to 31 July 2025 have yet to be published but the company has indicated revenue reached at least £250m, with an EBITDA margin of around 10%.
