THG plc
THG plc, an initialism of its original name The Hut Group, is a global retailer and brand owner, headquartered in Manchester, England, operating through two predominantly online consumer businesses: THG Beauty and THG Nutrition.
In January 2025, THG plc demerged its technology and logistics arm, THG Ingenuity, into a privately owned, stand-alone business. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The company was founded in Manchester in 2004 with a £500,000 investment by Matt Moulding and John Gallemore. The company sold CDs and DVDs online before creating white-label web stores for large physical retailers, including Asda, Argos Entertainment, Tesco and WHSmith. It operated a warehouse in Guernsey, allowing customers to avoid paying VAT on items priced below £18.The creation of the iPhone in 2007 undermined this business model and The Hut Group began acquiring internet retailers and moving them into the group's existing systems and warehouses. The company purchased Zavvi in 2009, Lookfantastic in 2010 and Myprotein in 2011. The group focused on beauty and lifestyle products because of the large margins and potential for international scaling.
Investors included Terry Leahy, a former chief executive of Tesco, and Stuart Rose, the chairman of Ocado. In 2014, the company sold a 19.2% stake to KKR, while Balderton Capital, a technology investor, held an identical stake. BlackRock invested £138 million in February 2016, and Sofina announced an undisclosed equity stake in May 2016. In August 2017, Sky News reported that Old Mutual Global Investors had made their first private equity investment in The Hut Group. In 2017, The Hut Group was valued at more than £2.5 billion making it one of the most valuable private companies in the United Kingdom, and one of the UK's unicorn companies.
On 16 September 2020, THG floated on the London Stock Exchange, the largest IPO on the LSE since 2013. The share price rose in value by 25% on the first day of trading, generating £920m for the company and £961m for the company's owners. After the flotation, Moulding received one of the biggest payouts in UK corporate history of at least £830m in shares.
However, by early October 2021, THG's share price had fallen by more than 60% since the start of the year. On 12 October 2021, the company held a capital markets day to unveil its sustainability strategy with investors. Afterwards, shares fell by 35%, wiping £1.8 billion off THG's value.
Following criticism of the company's governance arrangements, Charles Allen replaced Moulding as chairman in March 2022, with Moulding remaining CEO.
In July 2023, THG confirmed the sale of its OnDemand division to the existing leadership team, with financial backing from investment firm Gordon Brothers. The division included the webstores IWOOT, My Geek Box, Pop In A Box, Very Neko and Zavvi. ProBikeKit was sold separately to Frasers Group in the second quarter of 2023. The sales generated £4 million and THG announced that both would continue as clients of THG Ingenuity. Arrow Films was retained by THG and moved into THG Ingenuity.
In June 2024, it was announced that THG had sold its Luxury division, including the designer clothing, accessories and homeware web stores, Allsole, Coggles, MyBag and The Hut, to Frasers Group.
In January 2025, Ingenuity demerged from THG plc into a privately owned, stand-alone business.
Products and services
Beauty
THG Beauty sells own-brand and third party cosmetics, including skincare, haircare, makeup and fragrances.It both owns brands and its own web stores. Each web store is localised to different territories, including localised pricing, promotions, content, marketing, influencers, customer service, couriers and payment options. It offers three subscription services through Lookfantastic, Dermstore, and Glossybox which are designed to introduce consumers to new THG products.
The division has its own product development and manufacturing facilities for both own-brands and third parties.
Nutrition
THG Nutrition is a retailer of sports nutrition supplements and health and wellness products, led by the world's largest online sports nutrition brand, Myprotein. It also includes supplements brand, Myvitamins and activewear brand, MP Activewear. Like the Beauty division, THG Nutrition is vertically integrated with its own localised web stores, product development and manufacturing facilities which also service third parties.Facilities and locations
THG's head office is at the purpose-built ICON Technology Campus at Manchester Airport which opened in 2021.In 2020, THG exchanged contracts to build a new 1m sq ft global headquarters at Airport City Manchester to be called THQ. It was due for completion in 2022 but work had not yet begun by October 2022.
Acquisitions
THG has pursued an acquisition strategy of mainly taking full ownership of e-commerce businesses in a variety of retail sectors and putting the websites onto the e-commerce platform, THG Ingenuity.| Company | Year | Paid | Description | Rebranded | Division | Ref |
| Zavvi | 2009 | An online entertainment business that had gone into administration in 2008. Sold with the OnDemand division in 2023. | Sold | |||
| IWOOT - I Want One of Those | 2010 | £0.6M | Bought from Findel Group as well as Confetti, a wedding accessories retailer. Sold with the OnDemand division in 2023. | Sold | ||
| MyBag | 2010 | Designer handbags and accessories retailer. Sold to Frasers Group in 2024. | Sold | |||
| Lookfantastic | 2010 | £19.4M | Bought from the Crown family, the business sold beauty, skincare and haircare products and operated beauty salons in the UK. | Beauty | ||
| Mankind | 2010 | £2.5M | Bought weeks after purchasing Lookfantastic Group, Mankind is a male-focused online grooming retailer. At the time, it reported £5M annual sales. | Beauty | ||
| HQhair | 2011 | Bought out of administration. | Beauty | |||
| Myprotein | 2011 | £60M | The deal was estimated at £60 million at the time of the announcement. | Nutrition | ||
| Coggles | 2013 | Bought from Administration. Originally a predominantly physical retailer based in York, it operated solely online until December 2017 when it launched a new flagship store in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. Sold to Frasers Group in 2024. | Sold | |||
| Active Nutrition International | 2014 | A Finnish online sports nutrition retailer, Mass.fi, discontinued in 2017. | Discontinued | |||
| ProBikeKit | 2013 | Online UK cycling equipment and accessories retailer. Sold to Frasers Group in 2023. | Sold | |||
| Preloved | 2014 | An online secondhand marketplace founded by Ian Buzer in 1998. It was one of the largest in the UK with over 6 million members. | Ingenuity | |||
| Pop In A Box | 2015 | Online retailer of Funko Pop! Vinyl figures and accessories. Sold with the OnDemand division in 2023. | Sold | |||
| My Geek Box | 2015 | Subscription box service for collectibles and toys. Sold with the OnDemand division in 2023. | Sold | |||
| Mio Skincare | 2015 | £3.7M | British skincare brand. | Discontinued | ||
| Grow Gorgeous | 2016 | Canadian haircare brand acquired from Deciem. | Beauty | |||
| SkinStore | 2016 | £17.9M | An online-only beauty retailer in the USA and Australia, purchased from Walgreens Boots Alliance. | Discontinued | ||
| Hale Country Club & Spa | 2016 | £23.8M | The group's first physical retail acquisition. | Ingenuity | ||
| IdealShape | 2016 | £30.7M | A US-based dieting and nutrition brand based in American Fork, Utah. | exante | Discontinued | |
| SkinCareRx | 2016 | £4.4M | US based online skin care product store. | Discontinued | ||
| Hangar Seven | 2017 | £9.2M | A UK-based digital content studio. | THG Studios | Ingenuity | |
| UK2 Group | 2017 | £58M | A web hosting firm with data centres around the world. | THG Ingenuity Cloud Services | Ingenuity | |
| RY | 2017 | £6.8M | An Australian beauty online retailer. RY, which stands for 'Recreate Yourself', was established by James Patten and Brad Carr in 2005. | Beauty | ||
| Glossybox | 2017 | £17.5M | A European provider of beauty box subscription services. It was bought from Rocket Internet and Kinnevik Online. | Beauty | ||
| ESPA | 2017 | £68.2M | A UK firm with a presence in more than 700 spas in 60 countries. | Beauty | ||
| Illamasqua | 2017 | £16.9M | A British make-up brand founded in 2006 by Julian Kynaston. | Beauty | ||
| Eyeko | 2018 | £16.5M | A specialist eye cosmetic brand. | Beauty | ||
| Language Connect | 2018 | £12.7M | An online translation company. | THG Fluently | Ingenuity | |
| Acheson & Acheson | 2018 | £52.8M | A cosmetics developer and manufacturer based in Trowbridge and Frome. Purchase included Acheson's own skincare brand, Ameliorate. | THG Labs | Beauty | |
| Christophe Robin | 2019 | £44.7M | A French haircare brand established in 1999. | Beauty | ||
| Eclectic Hotel Group | 2019 | £39.9M | The Manchester hotels, King Street Townhouse and Great John Street Hotel. | Ingenuity | ||
| Perricone MD | 2020 | £51M | US prestige skincare brand. | Beauty | ||
| David Berryman Limited | 2020 | £7.5M | A fruit-based ingredients supplier and canned drinks manufacturer based in Luton. | Nutrition | ||
| Claremont Ingredients Limited | 2020 | £61.1M | A manufacturer of liquid and powder flavourings and colourings based in Silverdale, Staffordshire. Sold to Nactarome Group for £103M in 2025. | Sold | ||
| Dermstore | 2020 | £260.9M | US skincare retailer acquired from Target Corporation. | Beauty | ||
| Indigo Environmental Limited | 2021 | £6.3M | A recycling facility in Widnes, and Three Counties Reclamation Limited, a recycling facility in Ludlow. | THG Eco | Ingenuity | |
| Arrow Films | 2021 | £18.5M | A British film distributor. The purchase also included The Engine House Media Services, a subtitling and audio description company. | Ingenuity | ||
| More Trees | 2021 | £3.2M | A tree planting service. | THG Eco | Ingenuity | |
| Private Label Nutrition | 2021 | £2.7M | A vitamin, mineral and supplement manufacturer based in Blackpool. | Nutrition | ||
| Preston Plastics Limited | 2021 | £18.9M | A plastic recycling facility in Preston, Lancashire. | THG Eco | Ingenuity | |
| Brighter Foods Limited | 2021 | £43.8M | A manufacturer and developer of cold-pressed and cold form snack bars in Tywyn, Wales. | Nutrition | ||
| Bentley Laboratories LLC | 2021 | £180M | A prestige skincare and haircare manufacturer in Edison, New Jersey. | Beauty | ||
| Morvélo | 2021 | £0.6M | A British cycling apparel brand. Sold to Frasers Group in 2023. | Sold | ||
| Cult Beauty | 2021 | £291.3M | A UK-based online beauty retailer. | Beauty | ||
| City A.M. | 2023 | £1.5M | A business-focused newspaper distributed in and around London. | Ingenuity | ||
| Biossance | 2023 | £15.7M | Prestige skincare brand acquired at auction from Amyris, Inc. | Beauty |