A scaffolder from Liverpool has landed a £62m payday after listing his sports supplement business on the London Stock Exchange.
Thomas Ryder has offloaded 19pc of his shares in Applied Nutrition, a business he founded a decade ago, after listing the protein shakes maker on Thursday with a valuation of £350m.
Mr Ryder, who was raised by his grandparents on a Liverpool council estate after his father died when he was 12, will retain a 34pc stake in the business.
His interest in sports supplements stemmed from a teenage gym addiction, which saw him sell muscle-bulking protein powder and creatine alongside his daily job scaffolding for the local council.
At the age of 18 he opened his first supplement store, Body Fuel, after raising money for the project by delivering takeaway pizzas.
He continued to do scaffolding work while running Body Fuel for six years before switching to selling supplements full-time. He launched Applied Nutrition in 2014 from a small factory in Knowsley, just a few miles from where he grew up.
“I’ve always been passionate about supplements and ingredients,” said Mr Ryder, 41, who goes to the gym every day at 6.30am. “But back when I left school, this industry was nowhere near what it is today.
“It was still very much a bodybuilders’ industry. That has never been my thing but I’ve always been into the benefits of supplements.”
‘JD Sports one of largest shareholders’
His company’s rapid growth has attracted investment from North West billionaires, including Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa and Home Bargains founder Tom Morris.
Retail giant JD Sports is also one of its largest shareholders, while its former chairman Peter Cowgill has also invested in a personal capacity.
The listing also marks a rare boost for the London Stock Exchange, with shares in the business jumping more than 7pc in early trading to 150p.
“You can’t take away the credibility and recognition it gives you to be a listed company on the London Stock Exchange,” Mr Ryder said following Thursday’s initial public offering.
He added that “listing was by far the best all-round option we had”, despite the recent air of negativity surrounding the Square Mile.
‘Liverpool is at the heart of our company’
Mr Ryder is now targeting expansion across the Atlantic: “The US is the big goal. We are in an industry worth £189bn and the US is 50pc of that. You can’t ignore the fact that it’s by far the biggest opportunity.
“Our priority is to keep growing. We have not scratched the surface of where we can be. The growth opportunity ahead of us is huge.”
As well as gym-goers, Mr Ryder plans to target people using weight-loss jabs such as Wegovy, having recently introduced a product with such users in mind.
He said: “There is a huge consumer base taking prescribed drugs that’s stopping them from eating. But you then are lacking protein, minerals, vitamins, etc, and we can supplement that.
“It’s great you are losing weight but you’ve got to replace the goodness in your body.
“And we’d love to work with the NHS and anyone else prescribing these drugs,” he adds.