By
Zoe Stabler DipFAUpdated
There are approximately 600,000 vegans in the UK, according to Statista, and this number is rising significantly each year. For those not aware, vegans don’t eat anything that’s animal derived. This includes meat, milk, eggs, and even honey.
The UK market is worth more than 500 million euros (£416 million), so companies are working fast to create plant-based products that are as good as (if not better than) meat. Here are some vegan companies that you can invest in, and some information on how to invest in vegan stocks.
Vegan stocks are the shares of companies that contribute in some way to the vegan industry — typically food manufacturers. Some of these companies have innovated in the industry by creating products that have the same texture or taste as meat products. In other cases, they might have simply created delicious food products that don’t contain any animal-derived products.
There are a number of vegan food and drink manufacturers worldwide, particularly in the US. Some of these companies have only IPO’d in recent years, so they’re fresh on the market.
Beyond Meat is a leading plant-based manufacturer. It’s known for its meat substitutes, including chicken tenders and its “Beyond Burger”. Beyond Meat’s products are available in more than 85 countries and sold in around 128,000 locations worldwide. Some UK food outlets use Beyond products, including Pizza Hut and McDonalds, and you can purchase Beyond Meat products at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
This oat-based milk manufacturer held its IPO in May 2021. Oatly sells a range of different oat based products, including milk, ice cream, yogurt, cream, spreads and drinks. Oatly products are available at hundreds of cafes and restaurants across the UK and worldwide. The company even has an “Oat finder” on its website to find local cafes that serve it.
Tattooed Chef is another plant-based manufacturer that’s been listed on the stock market in recent years, this time via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Tattooed Chef creates plant based meals made with sustainably sourced ingredients. It sources ingredients from its own crops.
More and more people are choosing to adopt a plant-based diet — either permanently, or to take part in events like veganuary. Whether it’s because of a love for animals, an attempt at healthier eating, or to help save the planet, these changes to people’s diets appear to be a long term, possibly even permanent lifestyle change. This increases the need for vegan products and meat substitutes.
The main risk of vegan stocks is that we don’t know whether the current levels of veganism are here to stay. This uncertainty can cause some instability, particularly while it’s still a small portion of the global food market.
Additionally, many of these companies are very new floats on stock exchanges — there aren’t many long-established companies that are focusing solely on vegan products.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
Whether you’re a vegan yourself, or just see the opportunity in vegan stocks — there are a fair few that have recently floated on stock exchanges. We don’t have many specifically vegan stocks in the UK, but there are a number of existing food manufacturers that are starting to create some plant-based products, as long as you’re okay with them also creating meat based or animal derived products.
These would include companies that are working specifically on meat substitutes, such as Beyond Meat.
From what we can tell, none of the stocks we mentioned above pay dividends. That doesn’t mean to say they won’t in the future. This could be because the stocks are all relatively new on the stock market, so dividends haven’t been a consideration yet.
Zoe was a senior writer at Finder specialising in investment and banking, and during this time, she joined the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2022. She is currently a senior money writer at Be Clever With Your Cash. Zoe has a BA in English literature and a Diploma for Financial Advisers. She has several years of experience in writing about all things personal finance. Zoe has a particular love for spreadsheets, having also worked as a management accountant. In her spare time, you’ll find Zoe skating at her local ice rink. See full bio
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