Thomas Ryder, 41, established his sports supplements brand called Applied Nutrition 10 years ago – then on Thursday, he sold 19% of his shares of the business on the London Stock Exchange
A scaffolder from Liverpool has landed a huge payout of £62million after making a huge business move this week.
Thomas Ryder, 41, established his sports supplements brand called Applied Nutrition 10 years ago – but this Thursday, he sold 19% of his shares of the business, valued at £350million, on the London Stock Exchange. Ryder, who now holds a 35% stake in his business started his entrepreneurial journey over 30 years ago.
As a teenager, Ryder became obsessed with the gym and working out and this passion led him to open his first sports supplement store called “Body Fuel” at the age of 18. The entrepreneur, who was raised on a council estate in Liverpool by his grandparents, built up the cash for his business venture by selling muscle-bulking protein powder and delivering takeaway pizzas alongside his scaffolding job for the local council.
Speaking to the publication, Ryder said he had “always been passionate” about sports supplements, and when he first started, the industry was “nowhere near what it is today”. Ryder continued to do scaffolding work while running Body Fuel for six years before switching to selling supplements full-time. In 2014, he launched his now multimillion-pound company Applied Nutrition from a small factory in Knowsley, Merseyside. Over the last decade, the company saw rapid growth with retail giant JD Sports now being one of its largest shareholders.
Applied Nutrition also received investments from fellow northwestern business owners – and billionaires – such as Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa and Home Bargains founder Tom Morris. This week’s move was a major landmark for the nutrition business. Ryder told the Telegraph: “You can’t take away the credibility and recognition it gives you to be a listed company on the London Stock Exchange.”
Following Thursday’s initial public offering, shares in Applied Nutrition jumped more than 7% to 150p with Ryder noting that listing the business was “by far the best all-round option we had.” Going forward, Ryder says the business is now looking to make its mark over the pond with the US being his personal “big goal”.
He said: “The US is the big goal. We are in an industry worth £189billionn and the US is 50% 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.”
Alongside the US plans, the business is also looking to expand its target audience. Ryder said the supplement industry continued to be very “bodybuilding” centric, but this was something he wanted to change adding: “That has never been my thing but I’ve always been into the benefits of supplements.”
Going forward, Ryder says the business doesn’t just want to focus on gym-goers, instead, it would like to also target people using weight-loss jabs such as Wegovy as Applied Nutrition has just introduced with these 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.”
Even though Ryder has big plans for Applied Nutrition in the future, his heart and the businesses will remain at its base in Knowsley, Merseyside. He said: “Liverpool is our home and is at the heart of our company.” The Liverpudlian entrepreneur has never shied away from his roots with the business having previously sponsored mixed martial artists Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann as local ambassadors of Liverpool in 2023.
He told the Liverpool Echo at the time: “They’re both Liverpool through-and-through and understand the importance of the community. They also want to give back to their community like we do. It’s nice using local people from Liverpool to showcase the brand.”
