Gary Lavin Sold VitHit to Vimto's Maker After 25 Years

Most of the founders we have written about this year sold and stayed. Gary Lavin sold and left. When Nichols plc, the company behind Vimto, bought VitHit on August 10, 2026, its stock exchange announcement said the brand’s chairman and founder would step down “from day one.” He had built it for 25 years.

At a glance

A rugby player’s drink

Lavin is a former rugby player who founded VitHit in 2001, per The Irish Times (Killian Woods). He held the majority of the company, with family members holding stakes too, and was a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2025. The brand makes low-calorie, low-sugar vitamin drinks, per the Irish Examiner, and Nichols says it holds market-leading positions in the UK and Ireland and sells in 13 other markets.

The deal

Nichols paid €75 million, about £64 million, from cash on its balance sheet and expects the deal to add to earnings immediately. It plans more than €1 million of annual synergies and will keep VitHit’s Dublin office, though some of the management team will leave after a transition.

“VITHIT perfectly fits the acquisition profile we have been looking for,” said Nichols CEO Andrew Milne. Lavin said: “We are proud of what the team has achieved,” and called Nichols “the ideal partner to support the next stage of the brand’s development.” The Sunday Times first reported the deal, The Irish Times notes.

What the numbers say

Nichols’ announcement gives enough to see what the brand was worth. €75 million is about 2.8 times VitHit’s 2025 revenue and about 18 times its €4.2 million adjusted operating profit. Revenue grew by more than 90% from 2021 and at about 9.5% a year over the last three years, so 2021 revenue was under about €14 million and 2022 revenue was about €20 million. Those are our calculations from the disclosed growth rates; Nichols did not publish earlier years.

Compare that with the faster-growing brands sold this year. Bachan’s fetched about 4.6 times sales after growing 48% a year. VitHit’s price reflects a profitable, steady business rather than a breakout one.

What founders can take from it

• Profit sells. VitHit’s 15.8% operating margin made it “immediately earnings enhancing” for a listed buyer, the first line of the buyer’s case.
• Growth rate sets the multiple. At about 10% a year recently, VitHit sold for under three times sales; the hypergrowth brands this year sold for four to six.
• Not every founder has to stay. A clean exit on day one is a legitimate choice after 25 years.

Related founders

• Charlie Morgan, Hazard’s Ballboy, Sells Au Vodka to Sazerac: a Welsh drinks brand sold the same summer, at a much higher multiple.
• Justin Gill Sold Bachan’s, His Grandma’s Sauce, for $400M: a 2026 food-brand sale priced on growth.
• Tim Steiner Built Ocado for 26 Years. Now He Has to Hand It Over: another founder stepping away after a quarter of a century.

Sourcing: the price, structure, revenue, profit, margin, net assets, growth rates, markets, synergies, funding, Lavin’s step-down and the Milne and Lavin quotes are per Nichols plc’s RNS of August 10, 2026, read on Investegate. Lavin’s background, the 2001 founding, his majority ownership and family stakes, the EY finalist note and the Sunday Times attribution are per The Irish Times (Killian Woods, August 10, 2026). The product description is per the Irish Examiner (Alan Healy, August 10, 2026). The multiples and the implied 2021 and 2022 revenue are our arithmetic. No portrait is used.