Two best friends from Liverpool, Daniel Yuen and Kieran Riddell-Austin, launched sportswear brand Montirex in 2019 and this year have shared a dividends windfall of £2.6m thanks to rocketing sales and profits. Tony McDonough reports

Founders of Liverpool sportswear brand Montirex have shared dividends totalling £2.6m after seeing rocketing sales and profits.

Founded in 2019 by best friends Daniel Yuen and Kieran Riddell-Austin, Montirex products are now in demand across the world. In 2023 it secured permanent concessions in high street retailers JD Sports and Footasylum.

Montirex, based in Speke, has just filed its accounts for the 12 months to December 31, 2024, on Companies House. They show sales doubling to £72.3m and pre-tax profits soaring to £19.6m from £7.9m in 2023. During the year it employed 66 people.

Daniel and Kieran are sole owners of the business but a recent restructuring saw 50% of the stock transferred to D Yuen Holdings, owned by Daniel, and Riddell-Austin Holdings, owned by Kieran. 

A final dividend of just over £2.6m was declared. In 2023 the founders received more than £850,000 in dividends.

Daniel has told the Liverpool Echo previously that he wants Montirex to become “one of the biggest sports brands in the world” competing with global giants such as Nike and Under Armour.

In the interview, he said: “Before Montirex, I was an engineer and Kieran used to work in IT, but we’ve been best mates since we were about 10. We always knew we wanted to do something more and we didn’t always want to do the nine to fives..

He added: “We started off with three t-shirts – it was quite slow at first – and then we carried on restocking.”

In autumn 2024, Montirex opened its first physical pop-up store, occupying a 3,000 sq ft space on the lower level of South John Street in Liverpool ONE.

Writing in the annual report, Montirex finance director John Reid said: “The board is pleased with the strong performance during this period and remains confident about the company’s future. 

“The success reflects ongoing investments in key areas such as talent, marketing, product development, digital, IT and operational infrastructure.

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“Year-on-year revenue increased to £72.3, fuelled primarily by robust sales in the UK and Ireland across both wholesale and D2C (direct-to-consumer) channels.

“Looking forward to the comedy plan to expand its presence in the UK focusing on legions beyond the strength across the north of England.”