The Hut Group updates
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THG said it will list its beauty division separately in 2022, and could also pursue stock market listings for its other main ecommerce business and its technology and logistics arm.
THG Beauty, which includes brands such as Espa and Lookfantastic, reported sales of £461m for the six months to the end of June, up from £296m in the same period a year ago.
“A separate listing for THG Beauty will position the business very well to focus investment in its key growth areas, including own-brand portfolio expansion,” the company said on Thursday. “The decision of whether to separately list THG Nutrition and the timing will remain under consideration,” it added.
The decision to seek a separate listing for the beauty business comes just a year after THG, which was founded by Matthew Moulding, went public in an initial public offering regarded as a rare triumph for the London market. Nine months after its IPO, THG raised a further $1bn in fresh equity, led by an investment from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.
THG Nutrition, the group’s other main ecommerce business, produces a range of fitness and nutritional products. It reported revenue of £328m for the half year, up from £258m last year. Overall revenues were £958m, ahead of the £942m average of analysts’ forecasts
The Manchester-based company, previously known as The Hut Group, has already agreed to sell a 20 per cent stake in the technology and logistics arm to a unit of Japan’s SoftBank, which owns around 8 per cent of the group.
THG said that work on separating this division was proceeding ahead of plan and that date. While the division would initially remain a majority-owned subsidiary of THG, the group “retains ultimate discretion and flexibility to determine any subsequent IPO, or other structural option for Ingenuity, with the objective to maximise value for all shareholders”.
