Boss gives £100m shares to charity
THE Hut Group’s founder Matthew Moulding is to give £100million of shares in the online retailer to charity following its stock market flotation last year.
They will go to his family foundation, which was set up last year. The gift reduces Mr Moulding’s stake in the business from 25 to 24 per cent.
The Moulding Foundation has pledged £5million to help fund the construction of a new campus for the Seashell Trust, a school for disabled children in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
THG’s executive chairman has also pledged his £750,000 annual salary and bonuses to good causes.
Mr Moulding’s giveaway comes after THG revealed that its decision to hand its staff £332million worth of shares as part of its September flotation helped send it spiralling deeper into the red.
THG’s pre-tax losses for 2020 ballooned from £45.2million to £534.6million, despite revenues rising 41.5 per cent to £1.6billion.
Coronavirus costs, its flotation, restruc- turing and write-offs contributed.
It was revealed last December how hundreds of workers at The Hut Group had shared a near £1billion bonanza.
About 430 staff, from managers through to secretaries and warehouse workers, have been gifted free shares in the past 10 years.
Share windfalls have already turned 74 workers at the firm into millionaires. Mr Moulding, 49, said: “Once you set up somewhere, you almost get a siege mentality with the people around you.
“I think the UK is spectacular at generating small start-ups.”
He has spoken about the importance of the company remaining close to its roots.
The firm’s sprawling headquarters campus is next to Manchester Airport.
He has also spoken about how his dad made a living buying lorryloads of Tarmac and knocking on people’s doors offering to resurface their driveways.
“You soon realise the value of money when your dad’s gone out for a day’s work and made nothing because the weather’s bad,” he once said.
The £100million pledge comes just seven months after The Hut Group listed on the stock market. Mr Moulding scooped £830million – one of the biggest payouts in UK corporate history.