THG maintains full-year outlook despite decline in sales

THG, the owner of Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, said it remains confident in meeting its full-year expectations despite a decrease in revenue for the first quarter. 

The company reported an 8% drop in revenue to £375.6 million, with an "encouraging start to the year" for THG Nutrition but THG Beauty sales down 6.1% to £371.4 million.

THG stated that its beauty division was affected by an extra trading day in the prior period, the timing of Easter, and a strategic pullback in certain territories during the quarter.

Despite these challenges, the company has upheld its full-year revenue growth guidance in the mid-single digits, citing "continued confidence in underlying trading and sustained demand for prestige beauty across our core markets".

This outlook is further supported by a "strong" line-up of new brand launches scheduled to launch throughout the year.

The trading update comes as THG also revealed a 5% decline in revenue for the full-year ending 31 December 2024.

While beauty sales rose 4.6%, growth was outweighed by an 8.7% drop in THG Nutrition sales, primarily due to a rebranding initiative and one-off promotional activities aimed at clearing legacy inventory.

THG also completed the demerger of the company's technology division, THG Ingenuity, at the end of the year.

Matthew Moulding, CEO of THG, said: "We are now fully focused on THG Beauty and THG Nutrition, and I’m incredibly proud of the progress each business has made.

"Both our businesses have undertaken extensive model changes over the past 24 months. Beauty has focused on more profitable markets and building loyalty schemes, while Myprotein through THG Nutrition has pressed ahead in undertaking a successful rebrand, underpinning rapid growth across global offline retail and licensing."

Earlier this month, the business rejected a bid worth up to £600 million for Myprotein from investment fiirm Selkirk.