THG to face shareholder pushback over pay of new CFO

THG, the owner of Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty, will reportedly face a shareholder pushback at its annual general meeting later this month.

Shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis has recommended that investors reject two proposals being voted on, according to The Telegraph.

Investors are being encouraged to reject THG’s pay report because of an increase in its new Chief Financial Officer’s salary.

Damian Sanders took over as CFO earlier this year. He will earn £500,000 a year, which is 11% more than his predecessor John Gallemore.

Glass Lewis told The Telegraph that no “compelling justification” had been given for the pay increase, which comes despite losses and a declining share price.

The investment firm has also encouraged investors to vote against the re-election of Non-Executive Director Iain McDonald, a proposal it put forward last year claiming that he was an "affiliate or insider" on the pay committee.

The upcoming annual general meeting comes weeks after THG turned down a takeover bid from private equity firm Apollo.

“Consideration and rejection of the indicative proposal has been on a basis consistent with all previous offers for the company, some a matter of public record, which were also rejected based upon inadequate valuations and the nature of those offer structures,” THG said at the time.

Moulding recently criticised negativity from hedge funds, the media and bank analysts, following the initial buyout approach from Apollo.

In a post on social media, Moulding said that "a select few within the world of hedge funds, media and bank analysts regularly build negative coverage against UK listed companies, including THG".

He also labelled the experience of being a public company in London as “unpleasant”.

In April, THG reported an operating loss of £495.6 million for the year ending 31 December 2022. Total revenues increased 2.7% to £2.2 billion, with the group's beauty sales up 4.5%.