Beauty drives THG revenue hike ahead of float in 2022

Group revenues at online beauty and wellness group THG have soared by 44.7% year on year to hit £958.8m – with growth driven by its beauty division where revenues rocketed by 59% year on year, in the six months to 30 June 2021.

As one of THG’s “fastest-growing” divisions, THG Beauty, whose online retail destinations include LookFantastic, Cult Beauty and Dermstore, will be separated in 2022 and listed on the stock exchange, the company also announced.

The commitment reflected “the continued strong organic growth of the division and its position as the industry’s digital strategic partner globally, its growing US footprint, expanding global social media presence (with three million Instagram followers) and vertically integrated model.

A separate listing for THG Beauty would also position the business to focus investment in its key growth areas, including own-brand portfolio expansion, THG Executive Chairman and CEO Matthew Moulding said.

THG Nutrition, the group’s other main ecommerce business, reported revenue of £328m for the half year, up from £258m last year.

However, despite the jump in revenues, THG pre-tax losses grew to £81.3m - compared to a loss of £49.8m for the same period in 2020.

The Group also incurred an operating loss of £17.4m for the first half, impacted by non-recurring distribution costs associated with Covid-19 as-well as administrative costs.

Commenting on the results Moulding added: “I am delighted to announce a strong first half performance across all divisions, as we continue to invest significantly in support of our strategic growth ambitions,” he added.

“This investment is across our entire business, including our infrastructure, namely our recently-opened ICON campus and our global distribution network, in our Ingenuity platform, in building leading digital brands, and most importantly, in our people.

“In May, we announced the financial and trading partnership opportunity with SoftBank, one of the world's leading technology investors. We are only at the start of this relationship, but we are pleased to have already established multiple live commercial partnerships between the SoftBank portfolio and our Ingenuity platform.

“We continue to see an acceleration in levels of enquiry from global enterprises looking to leverage the Ingenuity platform, and I believe the global growth opportunity for Ingenuity to be unparalleled.

“We are also proud to be launching our 2030 sustainability strategy, outlining our key priorities and commitments in the coming weeks.”