THG CEO impressed by 'group's agility and resilience' as sales dip after demerger

THG, the owner of Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, has today revealed slipping sales in the fourth quarter after completing a demerger from its e-commerce platform 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%.

THG Beauty alone reported revenues up 4.6%, with broad and consistent gains across skincare, cosmetics and fragrance in the UK. These positive sales were offset by a "transitional year for THG Nutrition" as it rebranded and sold off old stock at a discounted price.

Matthew Moulding, CEO of THG, said: "I'm impressed by the Group's agility and resilience during a year of significant change for THG, ranging from the demerger of our Ingenuity business, to the sale or discontinuation of some non-core business units, and a major global rebrand of Myprotein in nutrition.

"Our beauty business had a standout year, underpinned by strong performances in the UK and US. The continued success of our customer loyalty and reward programme, and the opening of our first-ever Lookfantastic physical store, further cement our leadership position in the global Beauty market. These achievements demonstrated significant progress against our strategic priorities and set the stage for an even more remarkable 2025."

The business is expected to deliver mid-single-digit revenue growth in FY25, thanks to ongoing demand for its prestige beauty sector in the UK and US. It plans to return to growth in nutrition after a "much-improved" start to the year across online.

Moulding concluded that he is "excited to further deepen [THG's] retail expansion strategy internationally in the forthcoming year."

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.