The Hut Group has acquired rival upmarket etailer Salu Beauty from Walgreens Boots Alliance in an ongoing drive to bulk up its beauty proposition.

Salu, which The Hut acquired for an undisclosed sum, is the third beauty acquisition it has made in less than a year.

The online retailer, which is chaired by Co-op chief executive Richard Pennycook and has shareholders including Lord Rose and Sir Terry Leahy, acquired haircare brand Grow Gorgeous in February and Mio Skincare, which is targeted at pregnant women, last August.

Salu Beauty trades as Skinstore.com and Skincarestore.com.au in the US and Australia respectively.

The Hut, which now makes more than half its sales from overseas, sells beauty products in 166 countries.

The Hut said it plans to increase the number of country-specific websites for its beauty proposition from 17 to 29 by December 2016.

The group secured a £210m loan last September to drive international expansion and acquisitions, and is understood to be eyeing a float next year after putting its IPO on ice in 2011.

 

 

 

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