THG sales leap as boss Moulding looks to rebuild investor confidence

For the third quarter ending September 30, 2021, THG reported a 38% increase in group revenues to £507.8m. 

Trading was driven by strong sales performances from its health and beauty and Ingenuity platforms, which reported a 57.2% increase to £247.6m and a 44.1% jump to £51.1m respectively. 

THG upped its 2022 revenue expectations for the Ingenuity platform by between 20% and 25% to a range between £108m and £112m. 

Group full-year revenue and EBITDA margins guidance remain unchanged, and THG said it expects to “trade comfortably ahead of IPO expectations” set out at the float in September. 

Moulding said: “We have delivered a strong trading performance in Q3 and enter our peak trading period with confidence.

“The recent successful migration of Cult Beauty onto the Ingenuity platform is testament to the resilience of the infrastructure and the expertise of our digital talent. In under 10 weeks, we have seamlessly migrated Cult Beauty, while delivering significant website and customer user-experience improvements at the same time.

“I would like to thank all of our employees given how much they have achieved in the 12 months since IPO. Our talented workforce has grown considerably and, as well as significantly outperforming the trading guidance provided at IPO, they have been tirelessly expanding the business model across all divisions.

“The appointment of two independent non-executive directors and four special advisors since IPO has been hugely beneficial to the board, and we have real optimism for 2022 with the step-up to a premium listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange following the appointment of an independent chair.”

THG’s share price has been in freefall over the past few weeks since revealing its half-year results and announcing plans to separate its technology division from its beauty and nutrition arm.

Moulding then compounded the problem by lashing out at short sellers at a botched capital markets day, which also raised concerns that its main investor SoftBank was losing interest in the technology platform. 

In a bid to ward off any rumours that its key investor was cooling on Ingenuity, THG announced today that Andreas Hansson from SoftBank subsidiary SB Management has joined the group’s non-executive board of directors. 

Moulding has also recently given up his ‘golden’ share, which gave him ultimate control of the business for the first three years post-float.