Huel Acquired at Over 20x EBITDA

The key point is that Danone paid for quality of earnings, not just topline growth. At roughly $1.15B, Huel was bought at about 3.7x revenue and more than 20x current EBITDA, which looks rich for a food asset, but Huel had already crossed into real profitability, with about $335M of trailing revenue, roughly 60 percent gross margin, and about 10 percent EBITDA margin, plus a DTC engine and international growth path that most packaged food peers do not have.1 2 3

• Huel looks expensive versus slower growth food brands because most incumbents sell through retailers and give up margin to stores and distributors. Huel built a large direct channel first, then added 25,000 plus retail doors, which lets it keep stronger unit economics while still widening reach.1 2
• The peer set matters. This was less like buying a mature protein shake line and more like buying a scaled functional nutrition brand. Danone said the deal extends its portfolio into complete nutrition, a category where Huel sells powders and ready to drink meals to busy consumers, not just supplements for elderly care or medical use.1 3
• The premium also reflects scarcity. Huel was already the category leader in the UK, had more than 4M customers, and was still underpenetrated in the US, which was about $100M of revenue and less than 35 percent of the total. For a global buyer, that leaves a lot of room to grow into Danone distribution.1 2 3

Going forward, this deal raises the price bar for scaled nutrition brands that combine strong margins with a loyal direct customer base. The next winners in food will be brands that look more like software enabled commerce businesses, with repeat purchase data, paid acquisition skill, and products that can travel from online subscription into global retail.1 2 3