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30
Nov
The Boroughbridge condom company expanding in a growth market
Think of Boroughbridge and certain things come to mind: pretty streets, ancient standing stones, the marina and some nice pubs. One thing that doesn’t really feature in the town’s list of things to boast about is condoms – but they should.
That’s because on an industrial estate just north of the River Ure, there’s a company that has spent the last 30 years expanding and claiming an ever larger share of the sexual health market.
LTC Healthcare may not be a household name, but the chances are that you’ll have seen its products if you’ve ever clocked the vending machines in service station toilets or at large facilities such as Manchester Airport. The products are sold under the anagram brand name EXS.
It’s also a major supplier to the NHS, which dispenses free contraception to people aged 16 to 25.
The family-run company employs eight people, including Andy’s wife Jenny, who has a background in pharmaceuticals and works as HR director; son Mike, who joined the business as sales director after a degree in law and stint in the nuclear industry, and nephew Harvey, who works in warehousing and logistics.
It sells 16 million condoms a year, and has also branched out into lubricants – a growth area.
Some of LTC Healthcare's product range
Managing director Andy Taylor told the Stray Ferret:
One of the things we’re proud of is that we started from a bedroom, licking envelopes, and now we own our own premises and are on track to turn over £2.5 million this year.
How it began
It all started pre-internet, in 1993, when Andy’s brother Steve set up a mail order company, buying condoms from a vending supplier, advertising in [the adult comic] Viz, and taking postal orders.
Andy said:
In the UK we have one of the highest rates of STIs [sexually transmitted infections] and teenage pregnancies, and then in the ’90s there was HIV too – it was all pretty doom and gloom.
Steve recognised that contraception was difficult to find back then – it was all behind the counter or from vending machines, and service was pretty poor. So he effectively set up a cottage industry in a niche area.
Steve had studied materials science at the University of Leeds, and applied his knowledge to invent the glow-in-the-dark condom, the rights to which he sold to Richard Branson’s condom company, Jiffy.
When Steve was offered a job in the Netherlands, Andy, who had a background in medical sales, stepped in to run the business.
He said:
I’d always wanted to run my own business, so what an opportunity!
Growth area
Condoms are big business, and getting bigger – but by how much is a matter for debate. According to market research firm Mintel, the UK market for condoms and lubricants reached £86.8 million in 2023, but the figure produced by Grand View Research, excluding lubricants, was far greater, standing at US$458.1 million (361 million) in 2023. It also predicts that the market will grow at an annual rate of 5.5%.
Whichever of the two research firms is correct, it’s a lucrative market, but there are threats for companies like LTC Healthcare.
Andy said:
Every year, I go around our factory in Malaysia, so I know how the condoms are made and how they’re tested, and I know for a fact that there’s no-one making a better product. But what we don’t have is the marketing budget of some of our competitors.
Innovation
So in some areas, it seems, size does matter, but LTC Healthcare is trying to punch above its weight through various strategies.
Mintel described innovation across the condom sector as a whole as “lacklustre”, but it’s a field where LTC has long excelled, starting with those world-first luminous numbers. Earlier this year, it launched the first non-latex condom, made of a high-performance material called AT10, which is stronger but thinner than traditional latex.
It’s another product to add to its already broad range, which includes varieties called Air Thin, Snug Fit, and Delay Endurance. You can go large too – the usual condom width is 54mm, but the Magnum is 60mm and the Jumbo measures 69mm.
Condom pick'n'mix at LTC Healthcare in Boroughbridge, including Nano Thin, Jumbo and Bubblegum
Sales channels
The company has also extended its reach by exporting heavily – to 32 countries and counting – and by selling through Amazon.
This was the brainchild of Andy’s son, Mike. Andy said:
Mike’s made a massive difference to this business. We were doing business-to-business sales, and margins were low. People were breaking down large wholesale packs and selling them on Amazon, so Mike asked why we didn’t sell direct to the public.
We’re now working with Shift, a marketing agency in Leeds, and have 40 to 50 products listed on Amazon. We’re turning over about £600,000 on Amazon, but we believe we can get to £1 million within the next two years.
Another lucrative income stream has come through its thriving private-label service, making condoms that clients can sell under their own brands, such as FCUK.
Managing director Andy Taylor
Ethical stance
Andy sees his business very much as a healthcare company – condoms, he says, are a Class 2B medical device – and he takes its role in fostering sexual health seriously. The company supports Manchester Pride and also has an online portal where charities such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and Yorkshire MESMAC can buy its products more cheaply.
Another area that differentiates the company from its better-known competitors, says Andy, is its emphasis on sustainability.
Its condoms are made in Johor, Malaysia, under an exclusive deal with a factory owned by German company Richter Rubber.
Andy said:
Richter make condoms and the machines that make the condoms, so if anyone knows about condoms, it’s them.
The factory gets 40% of its energy from solar panels, and LTC itself has seen a 65% reduction in energy consumption since it installed solar panels at its head office in Boroughbridge.
Richter Rubber is part of the Regenerative Rubber Initiative (RRI), which works with small-scale farmers to create a more environmentally and socially sustainable rubber industry.
LTC’s EXS Pure condom uses RRI rubber exclusively, is fully biodegradable, and its foil is PET (polyethylene terephthalate) rather than aluminium-backed, making it more easily recyclable.
LTC’s condoms are also 100% vegan (some others use casein, a protein found in milk) and are PETA-approved – they’re not tested on animals.
Andy said:
That might sound funny – it causes laughter in the pub – but a lot of other condoms are tested on animals. They’re liquified and then applied to animals’ skin to test for reactions.
LTC already exports across Europe and the Middle East, and has ambitions to some day break into the US market. But there’s a problem.
Andy said:
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will only accept condoms that have been tested on animals. The crazy thing is that our products are sold all over Europe with CE approval – they've effectively been tested on us! – but the US won’t accept them.
So would LTC consider testing its products on animals just to gain access to the US market?
Absolutely not. We don’t want to be involved with animal testing. There are other ways of testing condoms.
Instead, Andy is concentrating on markets closer to home, exhibiting at erotica trade shows in Barcelona and Amsterdam, and at Arab Health, a major healthcare exhibition in Dubai. Next week, he's off to Lithuania to meet a new distributor.
Like most 'overnight successes', LTC Healthcare has taken a long time to get where it is, but all the Taylors' hard work is paying off – the company is growing by an impressive 20% annually.
Andy said:
Everybody has a giggle about the industry we’re in, but it’s like any other. It’s an industry where I feel we probably shouldn’t have succeeded because of the size of the competition, but we’ve managed to do very well, through dogged determination.
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