Sale of THG HQ falls through

The sale of a business park, which houses THG's headquarters, has fallen through. 

The owner of Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic is a tenant at Icon Business Park in Manchester, which is owned by THG boss Matt Moulding.

Moulding had been in talks with ICG Real Estate to sell the business park. However, according to The Financial Times, no agreement has been reached.

The site is used as a security for a £128 million portion of a £202 million loan Warrington Borough Council gave to the group of companies controlled by Moulding Capital in 2020.

The possible sale was first reported over the summer when the council granted permission for ICG to take on the £128 million loan.

It comes after a loan worth £67.5 million to fund THG's new headquarters was cancelled at the start of this year.

Earlier this month, THG reported a 9.3% decrease in revenue to £969.3 million as inflationary pressures provided "significant" challenges.

Losses also deepened to £99.5 million in the first half of 2022, reflecting a £26.2 million one-off, non-cash charge related to the sale of its loss-making categories and non-core assets. Without this charge, operating loss improved by £15.9 million.

Looking ahead, the group said overall sales trends are "gradually improving", with third quarter revenue anticipated to be marginally ahead of the second quarter.