Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic owner donates £60m to 'reduce gross debt'

THG, the owner of Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, has raised £90 million through share placing and refinancing to reduce gross debt. 

£60 million of the funds raised came from Founder and Chief Executive Matthew Moulding, who provided a £54.6 million convertible loan and "partly paid" £5 million of shares.

The remaining £30 million was raised through a placing of new shares at a price of 32.3p, a 5% discount to yesterday's closing price. The placing was 'oversubscribed' and 'well-supported' by both existing and new investors according to THG.

The company said: "We are pleased with the support from both our existing and new investors. This raises funds to reduce our gross debt and strengthen our balance sheet as we move forward."

Back in October, THG revealed it was going ahead with demerging its e-commerce platform Ingenuity, announcing it had an oversubscribed fundraising of £95.4 million, succeeding its £75 million target. The cash was used to take loss-making technology arm Ingenuity private. Existing shareholders contributed approximately £50 million to the fundraiser, led by Matthew Moulding, CEO of THG, who invested £10 million.

In January it revealed slipping sales in the fourth quarter after completing a demerger from Ingenuity. The trading update revealed a 7.1% decline in revenues for the period ending 31 December 2024. THG Beauty and THG Nutrition revenues dipped by 5%. However, the departing THG Ingenuity arm, which named Frasers as an investor, grew by 22.9%. However, Moulding said he was "impressed by the Group's agility and resilience during a year of significant change".