By Business & Finance 
Gary Lavin, founder & chairman of the low-calorie vitamin drink brand VITHIT, is our Business Person of the Month for August, in association with KPMG.
Lavin is a former professional rugby player. During his playing career, he identified a gap in the sports nutrition market: drinks marketed to athletes were typically high in sugar and offered limited nutritional value. In 2000, he founded VITHIT to address this, building the brand around essential vitamins and reduced calorie content.
VITHIT’s early years were financially difficult, and the company came close to insolvency. To keep it operating, Lavin personally managed sales and distribution for 18 months. During this period, he secured listings in more than 3,500 retail stores. These accounts stabilised the business and formed the foundation for its later expansion.
VITHIT has since grown into an international beverage brand. It now sells more than 40 million units annually, making it the seventh-largest soft drink brand by volume in Ireland and the leading vitamin-enhanced drink in the UK.
In its most recent financial year, VITHIT recorded a revenue of €26.5 million and an adjusted operating profit of €4.2 million.
In August 2026, VITHIT was acquired by Nichols, a British beverage group, at an enterprise value of €75 million. The deal marks the largest corporate milestone in the company’s history and brings VITHIT under the ownership of a listed UK drinks group with an established distribution network across Britain.
The acquisition positions VITHIT for further expansion under Nichols’ ownership, with access to broader distribution channels in the UK and potential for growth into additional international markets. Lavin’s transition from founder-led management through near-insolvency to a €75 million exit places VITHIT among the more notable Irish drinks industry success stories of the past two decades.
Business Person of the Month
The Business Person of the Month Award, in association with KPMG, recognises outstanding leaders in Irish business. It especially acknowledges those who have made significant contributions to the business community of Ireland.
Recipients of the award are automatically put forward as candidates for the prestigious Business Person of the Year Award at the annual Business & Finance Awards. For any inquiries, please contact priyanka.kotian@businessandfinance.com.
Business & Finance, Business Person of the Month
Business & Finance, in association with KPMG, recognises excellence in business through the ‘Business Person of the Month’ award. This award seeks to recognise noteworthy achievements in business leadership and, particularly, those that make a telling contribution to the wider business community in Ireland.
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