The Hut Group (“THG”), the pre-eminent digital-first consumer brand group within Beauty & Wellness, today announced the launch of its inaugural Term Loan B (TLB) debt issuance. THG is raising £510m (Euro equivalent) of TLB debt, with a 7-year maturity plus a 5-year £150m revolving credit facility, which is fully underwritten by Barclays, HSBC, Citi and Santander.
The transaction represents another step change in THG’s capital structure, enabling it to continue to build out its position as the digital strategic within Beauty & Wellness, with investments across the Ingenuity ecosystem plus prestige brands and world-class talent.
THG has grown sales from £80m (2010) to well in excess of £1 billion (2019), with two-thirds of revenues generated internationally across Europe, Asia and the US. THG has rapidly grown profitability to industry leading levels through its vertically integrated, technology-first consumer brand portfolio and technology services model.
In excess of 50% of sales are generated through its own brands including Myprotein (#1 online global sports nutrition brand) and a portfolio of seven prestige beauty brands across Skincare, Haircare & Cosmetics (ESPA, Christophe Robin, Ameliorate, Grow Gorgeous, Mio Skincare, Illamasqua and Eyeko). Through its lookfantastic brand, the largest online-only specialist beauty retailer globally, THG sells over 850 prestige Beauty brands such as Estee Lauder, MAC, Tom Ford, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone and L’Oreal.
THG’s Wellness and Beauty brands are powered by the Group’s proprietary ecommerce and operating platform, Ingenuity – a unique ecosystem powering both THG’s sites and those for select consumer groups such as Nestle, P&G and J&J.
In addition to providing the core ecommerce engine similar to peers such as Salesforce, Magento and Shopify, the Ingenuity ecosystem uniquely provides consumer groups with an end-to-end ecommerce solution across hosting (29 data centres), content creation (6 studios), translation (Language Connect), payment options (50+), courier options (100+), affiliate marketing networks, brand events (hotels & country club), manufacturing and distribution centres (x12 globally, 2+ million sq. ft.).
Matthew Moulding, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of THG, said: “This is another major step forward for THG and a testament to the strength of the business we have built. These new debt facilities provide the Company with significant investment capability enabling us to further drive our proposition across global markets, build brands of scale and continue to develop our leading technology, infrastructure and people.”
THG’s institutional shareholders including BlackRock, Old Mutual, Sofina, KKR and Balderton Capital.
Citi, Barclays and HSBC are acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Joint Global Coordinators with Santander, JP Morgan and National Westminster Bank as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners on the financing.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
The Hut Group (THG):
Viki Tahmasebi: viki.tahmasebi@thehutgroup.com, 07966 028340
Notes to Editors
About THG
The Hut Group (THG) is an international technology company, focused on beauty and wellbeing retail. Founded in 2004 by CEO Matthew Moulding, Manchester-based THG now operates 178 localised websites, retailing goods in 169 countries. In the year to 31 December 2018, the Group grew sales by 24% to £916m, with 66% of sales generated internationally. More than half of THG’s sales come from its own brand products.
Pioneering Technology Platform
THG is a British technology success story. Its in-house team design, develop and build bespoke proprietary technology that is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Its unique platform, THG Ingenuity, helps the Group dispatch 68 million items to customers across the world, and saw THG reach the top of the Sunday Times profit track for two consecutive years. The platform was recognised as E-tailer of the Year in 2016 by Retail Week.
Talent
The Hut Group is the #1 place for ambitious young talent. By the end of 2018, THG employed over 5,000 people, approximately double the number employed at the end of 2016. THG created more than 1,000 jobs in 2018 and the THG Academy continues working to build the next generation of business leaders.