YorkTest
YorkTest offers a range of nutrition, health and wellbeing tests as well as nutritional advice and support to consumers, both directly through its dedicated e-commerce website and indirectly through its network of expert practitioners. The business sells its products and services both in the UK and overseas.
Key has provided YorkTest with excellent advice and support throughout its investment in the business. Key brings a wealth of financial and commercial experience to share with our management team. They attend monthly board meetings and help us focus on the key issues, review strategy and drive the business forward. James and Matt, together with all of the team, bring a positive and supportive approach as investors in our business.
Working with YorkTest...
Investment process
We invested £8.7 million for a majority stake in YorkTest in July 2017, to purchase the business from its parent company. The transaction was structured with no debt to ensure that there was sufficient headroom and breathing space for the business to grow and invest in its people, systems and infrastructure.
Growth process
Enhancing the business support functions at YorkTest was a priority so significant investment was made in the finance system and board reporting, the CRM and laboratory systems as well as a customer portal. We augmented the senior management team to support future growth of the business by bringing in a Managing Director, Finance Director and Marketing Director as well as an experienced Non-Executive Chairman. This investment futureproofed the business and ensured that the platform was able to scale at pace. We also assisted with a new product development plan and strategic diversification of the product base and customer proposition. Having gained experience of online retail businesses enabled us to share best practice across the portfolio which aided the business in avoiding pitfalls and grow more quickly.
Exit process
We positioned the business for further growth and recruited a team who had a strong appetite to continue to grow the business and reinvest alongside another private equity investor. The work and investment undertaken during our investment period gave the buyer the confidence that the business, team and systems were scalable, and the market opportunity was strong.