Charitable Hut chief keeps just £20,000

THE Hut Group’s embattled boss took home just £20,000 last year after giving almost his entire salary to charity.

Matthew Moulding, the e-commerce retailer’s founder, gave up £730,000 of his £750,000 pay packet in 2021, also waiving his entitlement to a bonus.

But it emerged that THG spent £797,000 on private security for Moulding between 2020 and 2021.

The company originally thought this was tax deductible – meaning it would not have to be disclosed – but concluded this was not the case following talks with HMRC.

THG said Moulding had covered the cost of his own private security from January this year, so it would not be included in future annual reports.

Finance boss John Gallemore, who has been Moulding’s righthand man since he set up THG in 2004, also donated £430,000 of his salary, to take home just £20,000.

THG sells skincare, make-up and supplements, and its brands include Look fantastic and Myprotein. Its main divisions are beauty, nutrition and tech arm Ingenuity.

The donations come amid a torrid time for shareholders in the Manchester-based business, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2020.

It has suffered a stunning fall from being one of Britain’s most successful IPOs to a business dogged by corporate governance concerns. It has faced questions over Moulding’s vice-like grip on the business and the value of Ingenuity. Shares listed at 500p and have since crashed, falling 80pc to close yesterday at 108.8p.

Moulding, 50, has said he has considered taking the company private again, adding that life on the public market has ‘just sucked from start to finish’.

In March it brought in City heavyweight Charles Allen, the former boss of ITV, to shore up support among investors and spark some life back into shares.