Anthony Houghton on Holland & Barrett’s epic turnaround

Today, it’s a business transformed. Latest results to September 2025 showed revenue growth hit double figures for the third consecutive year, growing 11% to £981m. Gross profits surged to £579.9m following its “strongest ever” year of trade. Reports also suggest its tetchy relationship with suppliers is a thing of the past.

On paper, it could be one of the sector’s most impressive turnarounds of recent years, which is why group CEO Anthony Houghton’s diagnosis of what’s driven the success is surprising. “We’re in the right sector,” he tells The Grocer. But that’s only part of the story.

True, as the UK’s largest health and wellness retailer, H&B was well placed to take advantage of what Houghton calls a “structural shift” in consumers’ attitudes towards health and wellness since Covid. Nonetheless, it’s long been understood that the business desperately needed investment to make its offer more relevant.

“Luckily, we’ve been supported to literally rebuild the foundations from bottom up,” says Houghton.

Since buying back £700m of H&B’s debt, leaving it debt-free, owner LetterOne has ploughed over £350m into reviving its stores and supply chain, investing £124m in 2025 alone. This is most visible in H&B’s expanded and completely modernised store estate. “We had stores in the wrong location, wrong size or not to the right standard. We’ve relocated or consolidated, so we’re in the right places and offer the right service.”

Forty-seven stores were opened last year, and a further nine already in 2026 have taken its UK store estate to 809. These have been bolstered with concessions in Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op, WH Smith and Next, as well as digital marketplaces with Ocado. It’s also expanded internationally across Benelux, the Middle East, China and more, with stores in 21 countries globally.

Its 4,500 store staff also play a vital role. Over the past three years, H&B has invested more into training and people than ever. Store staff are now trained as “wellness advisers”, so they can confidently discuss products to help with customers’ basic health concerns. It’s also established an in-house science team that plays a key role in NPD from its development centre in London, and recently opened a contact centre that shoppers can call for virtual 15-minute health consultations.

“Training is one of our biggest investments. It’s one of the easiest things to scale back when faced with increasing costs, but it’s definitely paid off,” Houghton says, citing “record” customer and staff satisfaction scores.

Meanwhile, about 2,700 of H&B’s 4,500 SKUs have been replaced over the past three years, including a reset of its food category in 2023 to better reflect shopper visits and social media health trends. More than 1,000 of its SKUs are now own label, accounting for half of total sales.

Aisles, both physical and online, are now categorised for specific ‘health missions’ – such as Skin, Gut Health or Joints, Bones and Muscles – and packed with products like premium collagen, magnesium butter and mushroom coffee. Growing concession partnerships with the likes of Randox Health Clinics are also key.

“We want to give customers the opportunity to understand what’s going on in the body. More often than not, that leads to sales of supplements,” Houghton says.