A fast-growing CBD brand, which counts two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua among its investors, has hailed its financial results after undergoing "major changes" during the year.
Love Hemp, which opened a new office in Manchester and created 30 jobs earlier this year, has reported a revenue of £4.33m for the 12 months to the end of June 2021, up from £1.6m.
It has also posted a gross profit of £1.25m for the period, a rise from £960,000.
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During the year the company welcomed Anthony Joshua as a shareholder, signed an exclusive licensing agreement with UFC and partnered with UFC champion Kamaru Usman.
Chief executive Tony Calamita said: "Love Hemp Group has undergone major changes during the period.
"Embedding a new team, aligning the business with its new regulatory reporting obligations, and establishing appropriate corporate governance measures has been our priority for the company’s corporate maturation and planned move to the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
"These corporate changes have been alongside delivering growth in revenue, attracting new customers, developing new retail relationships and securing partnerships with leading organisations and individuals.
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"A huge amount has been achieved to date and important preparations have been made for the company’s growth trajectory.
"This next phase is focused on building brand visibility and loyalty and creating a distinctive position for Love Hemp in the burgeoning CBD wellness sector.
"Investment in brand building commenced in November 2021 with the launch of our first national media campaign with our investor and ambassador Anthony Joshua.
"This campaign was the first step in leveraging our outstanding partnerships which, coupled with impactful marketing, is a crucial part of our growth strategy.
"Positioning outdoor adverts near our key retail outlets has already resulted in significant orders from both Boots and Holland & Barrett.
"We have also attracted new customers to lovehemp.com in November with 35% of November orders coming from first time buyers.
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"In addition to building the brand, visibility it is crucial for us to grow the value of the brand. We have moved away from regular discounting and will be implementing new marketing initiatives in the New Year to drive value.
"We have already seen the positive impact of this change in our Black Friday sale which ran for one week rather than the whole of November as per previous years.
"Revenue from lovehemp.com increased 12.6% in November compared to average revenue of the previous 10 months, and this uplift was achieved while moving away from discount led promotions other than the Black Friday week.
"Key to the momentum of brand building is understanding our consumers. Our revised marketing strategy will see us pivot towards a focus on the consumer use cases of sleep, stress, anxiety, recovery, and pain.
"Investment in data driven marketing will enable us to better understand who our consumers are and their purchasing behaviour, which will in turn improve targeting and grow our market share amongst key audiences.
"Enabled by our data driven decisions, the New Year will also see the launch of multiple new products. These new products target new audiences and new distribution channels.
"These new products have all been developed by our in-house New Product Development team in our new premises in Manchester.
"A focus on consumer use cases, investment in brand building through partnerships, data driven digital marketing and new product development help deliver a robust, distinctive and informed offering.
"We believe this is unique in the CBD wellness space and that these developments, in addition to the strong revenue, growing customer base and established sales channels, provide Love Hemp with a platform from which to become a globally recognised and trusted brand.
"In what has been a challenging phase in the company’s development we look forward to entering the New Year with refreshed purpose and delivering strong results throughout the remainder of the current financial year."