A manufacturer of functional nutrition products for animals has won an award for successfully entering into a new market or sector in the UK within the past 18 months.

Lintbells in Weston, near Baldock, won the award in the Market Mover category at GrowthAccelerator’s The Brave & The Bold awards. The veterinary nutriceuticals market has seen minimal growth for the last five years, but Lintbells is transforming the nutritional supplement market having redefined the business model for this sector to address product performance, price and customer perception.

John Davies, commercial director from Lintbells, said: “We knew if we entered a veterinary market we needed tangible independent evidence for our products. To make this a reality we invested heavily in clinical trials with the Royal Veterinary College to prove our joint supplement worked. Trials finished in early 2014 with a clinically proven result and a new marketing campaign has been developed to support this. We developed a new veterinary brand to segment the overall market and give the vets a product specifically for them.”

Lintbells went on to develop a service programme to help veterinary practices to educate their clients on canine and feline joint management.