Glanbia has announced the sale of SlimFast to Heartland Food Products Group. The price paid for SlimFast was not revealed by either side.

Heartland is the manufacturer of the Splenda range of sweeteners and water enhancers.

While there was no price released for the deal, Glanbia took a writedown on value of the US SlimFast business of $91.4m (€77.2m) in its 2024 annual report, leaving it with “a recoverable value of $44.1m” (€37.25m).

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Glanbia purchased SlimFast for $350m (€300m) in 2018, promising to turn the weight-loss brand’s fortunes around.

SlimFast’s popularity peaked before the turn of the millennium and the company was purchased by Unilever in 2000 for €2.4bn (€2bn).

Unilever’s investment suffered as the brand fell out of favour with customers. In 2014, the brand was sold to Kainos capital. In 2018, Glanbia purchased SlimFast from Kainos.

Trends

Initial performance of the company seemed positive for Glanbia, with SlimFast gaining sales due to interest in the keto diet in the immediate wake of the purchase.

However, sales started to turn as the brand’s popularity - and the public’s interest in trendy diets - dropped during the pandemic and, more recently, the emergence of GLP-1 weight loss drugs such as Ozempic.

Shareholders will probably welcome the offloading of the brand, but questions will remain over the decision to purchase it in the first place and then to hold on to it for so long after it became clear it was a major under-performer in the company’s portfolio.

Shares in Glanbia jumped 3% to €14.41 in the immediate wake of the announcement.

A spokesperson for Glanbia said the deal covered "SlimFast US and certain other jurisdictions" and that "a process is ongoing for the sale of SlimFast in remaining jurisdictions".