Latest news with #CharlieBowes-Lyon
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Unilever Acquires Wild, UK's Leading Natural Deodorant Brand
Wild Cosmetics, a UK plastic-free cosmetics brand founded less than six years ago, has been acquired by Unilever for an undisclosed sum. Reports indicate that the two founders and childhood friends Freddy Ward and Charlie Bowes-Lyon own approximately 40% of the company—suggesting a total transaction value of £250 million, (around 300 million USD). Launched in the UK in 2020, Wild Cosmetics became popular thanks to its refillable, plastic-free deodorants and lip balms as well as natural hand and body wash. Inititally sold though its direct-to-consumer channel only, the brand positioned itself as a premium, eco-friendly personal care brand and rapidly gained traction amongst shoppers. In 2021, it expanded into grocery retail through Sainsbury's, Boots and Holland & Barrett and quickly became UK's number one natural deodorant brand. A key driver of Wild's success became its positioning as 'the water bottle of the bathroom', as co-founder Freddy Ward explained it for Brightpearl a few years back: 'The way I like to explain it is 80% of customers in the UK now use a reusable water bottle but less than 5% of people have a sustainable solution for their bathroom products'. He shared his vision of consumers making the shift to refillable personal care products the same way they do with refillable water bottles, as long as it is made easy thanks to convenient, sustainable solutions. Less than four years after becoming widely available in the UK, Wild grew at a staggering +151% over three years to become the most popular deodorant brand, with sales of £46.9 million in 2023 (+77% YoY) and a pre-tax profit of £509,000 according to its annual report. Partnering with Unilever is seen as a strategic move to scale this vision, leveraging Unilever's global reach and distribution network to drive widespread adoption. Bowes-Lyon, Wild's chief marketing officer, told The Guardian that having access to Unilever's distribution network and R&D would help accelerate its 'ultimate mission to remove plastic from the average Joe's bathroom' and to 'make sustainability mainstream'. There is no reason to believe that Unilever would fall short of honoring this vision, especially as it is very aware of growing consumer and societal pressures around sustainability. Wild deodorants have grown faster than Unilever-owned deodorant brand and has gained strong eco-friendly credibility, making it an obvious strategic fit for the group. According to Fabian Garcia, the president of Unilever's personal care division, 'the brand's innovative approach to formulations and packaging, and social-first marketing, has made Wild an unmissably superior brand and a perfect complement to our personal care portfolio.' Wild Cosmetics' strong brand equity, eco-friendly credentials, premium positioning and strong financial position made it a clear acquisition target for Unilever, especially as the company looks to move towards more premium, high-growth segments. Zooming out, this acquisition marks a broader trend within the consumer goods space: established industry leaders acquiring young, agile brands that excel in product innovation and create desirable, authentic brands born to be close to the consumer. The rise of consumer interest in health, wellness and sustainability has also fueled this shift, highlighting an industry-wide push towards more agile, forward-thinking brands. Overall, this signals a positive shift and an encouraging future for brand founders and the consumer goods space, as it demonstrates how evolving consumer needs and behaviors are driving positive change, and ultimately rewarding innovation.
Sky News
10-02-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Unilever goes Wild for £230m refillable cosmetics producer
The FTSE-100 consumer goods giant Unilever is closing in on a £230m deal to snap up Wild, a premium producer of refillable personal care products backed by the founders of Innocent Drinks. Sky News has learnt that Unilever has agreed the terms of a transaction to acquire Wild from its founders and early-stage investors. A deal could be announced within weeks, according to industry sources. If confirmed, it would be one of Unilever's most significant acquisitions in the personal care space for some years, and comes as chief executive Hein Schumacher accelerates efforts to revamp its portfolio. The group owns personal care brands such as Dove and Lynx - which is known as Axe in most countries around the world. Unilever is said to have been drawn to the Wild business because of both its premium brand positioning and its commitment to sustainability. Wild, which was founded by Charlie Bowes-Lyon and Freddy Ward, sells refillable natural deodorants, lip balms, bodywashes and handwashes direct to consumers. The sale price of up to £230m is understood to include a sizeable earnout for the founders, but even without that, the deal represents a remarkable triumph for a business founded just six years ago. Mr Ward told The Grocer, a trade magazine, in 2023 that Wild's initial efforts to produce a credible product were unsuccessful. "We learned that we weren't very good at making deodorant but there was demand for the product if we could get it right," he said. "It just didn't really work, was the problem. "The formulation wasn't very good." A revamp of the product, which coincided with the remote shopping explosion triggered by the Covid-19 crisis, paid dividends for the founders. Since then, they have reportedly raised in the region of £10m from external investors including Jamjar Ventures, the investment vehicle of Innocent Drinks' founders, Redbus Ventures and Slingshot Ventures. Its accounts for the year to 31 December 2023 show that sales reached close to £47m, a 77% increase on the year before. It recorded operating profit of £560,000. "2023 represented a watershed moment in Wild's short history as we delivered our first year of profitable growth across the business," the accounts - signed off last July - said. A sale to Unilever comes as the London-listed group contemplates a listing of its vast ice cream division, which includes the Ben & Jerry's brand. The company is being lobbied to demerge in a deal involving the London Stock Exchange, although exchanges in Amsterdam and New York are also under consideration. On Monday afternoon, shares in Unilever were trading at around £47.26, giving it a market capitalisation of close to £116bn.
