VITAMIN tablets are giving a healthy glow to an Oxfordshire firm’s financial outlook.

The Oxford Health Company manufactures a hundred different types of vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements from its factory in Bicester, much of it under the Oxford Vitality brand.

Set up by four friends in 2013, the company has a turnover of £1.5m which is set to reach £2m next year.

It has been singled out for official praise by being featured in the 2017 Parliamentary Review, published two weeks ago.

The annual report by government Ministers highlights examples of good industry practice around the country.

TOHC invested £150,000 earlier this year in new machinery to boost manufacturing at its Bicester base, after winning the contract to supply 100 million tablets to a “large British supplement brand”.

Co-founder and director Tom Humphrey said the order was for “as soon as we could make them”.

To meet demand, it has scaled-up the number of shifts from one to three a day, to allow 24-hour production five days of the week.

It has also doubled its staff from 10 to 20 during the past nine months.

Three are qualified nutritionists.

Now it wants to triple the size of its manufacturing base and is looking for extra warehouse space of 5,000-6,000 square feet in the county.

Mr Humphrey added: “We are quite crammed in our original small production unit.”

The firm sells 10,000 vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements each month, with 70 per cent sold direct to customers via TOHC’s own website plus Amazon and eBay.

Best-sellers include vitamin D3+K2, green tea extract and turmeric and black pepper.

Typically, a pack of 120 tablets sells for £6-8.

Making supplements for other companies, which accounts for the other 30 per cent of sales, is growing the fastest, according to Mr Humphrey.

He and his co-founders and directors, James Allan and brothers Alastair and Richard Sanderson, believe The Oxford Health Company’s recent success was helped by gaining an international food safety accreditation for its factory.

He explained: “We invested a lot of time and money last year in achieving FSSC 22000.

“After gaining that certificate, we were able to tell our suppliers and clients and that was what got us the 100 million tablets contract.”

More than 40 per cent of sales come from mainland Europe, an area it is keen to expand.

The Parliamentary Review, overseen by former cabinet minister Sir Eric Pickles and with a foreword from Prime Minister Theresa May, lists Oxford Vitality under ‘specialist manufacturing representatives’.